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A 



Biographical History 



WITH 

/3 f 
PORTRAITS 



OF 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



ILLUSTRATIONS IN STEEL 

AND MARGINALS 



EDITED BT 

JOHN A. CAMPBELL 



PUBLISHED BT THE 

WESTEKN BIOGRAPHICAL AND ENGRAVING CO. 

CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 

X903 






'b 



<:> 



K 



il<^ 



INDKX 



A. 

PAGE 

Adsit. Charles C S8l 

Aikens. Andrew J 617 

Alexander, Walter 454 

Alexander. William A .^92 

Allen. Charles L 106 

Allen, J. Adams no 

Allerton. Samuel W 433 

Allison, William B 646 

Andrews, James D 210 

Armour, Philip D 596 

Arnd. Charles 669 

Ashcraft, Edwin M 158 

Atwood, Harry F 641 

Austin. William H 233 

B. 

Baldwin, Aristides E 476 

Bangs, Mark 312 

Banning, Ephraim .;o7 

Barber, Charles 424 

Barnes, Albert C .385 

Bartlett. Oscar Z 463 

Batten, John H 69 

Beach, Elmer E 222 

■ Beach, Ra>Tnond W 223 

Bcale, William G 294 

Bell, John C 2.S2 

Bellis, George F 475 

Bennett, Robert J 674 

Best, Henry 84 

Black, John C 313 

Black, William P 608 

Bowersock, Justin D .305 

Bradwell, James B 64 

Bragg, Edward S 660 

Brenan, Thomas 664 

Brick. Abraham L 175 

Britton, D. W 246 

Brophy, Truman W 80 

Brown, Edward 1,33 

Brown, Henry B 167 

Brown, John A 372 



PACK 

Brown, Paul 70 

Buck, James P 320 

Kuell, Ira W 48 

liulkley, .\lnion W ,SQ9 

Burry, William 2.^6 

JlUtkj:Uo h" S 674 

C, 

Cain, Frank R 181 

Caldwell, Ben F 119 

Camion, Joseph G 218 

Carlile, William B .301 

Carnahan, Charles C 174 

Carpenter, Paul D 221 

Carr, Henry H 100 

Carroll, William F 547 

Carter, Donald M ui 

Carter. Orrin N 457 

Caswell, Lucien B OJ4 

Catlin, Thomas D 492 

Chancellor, Justus 552 

Chetlain, Arthur H 519 

Christcnsen, Niels .A 6^8 

Clark, Champ 595 

Clark, W. A 051 

Cobb, Joseph P 677 

Cobe, Ira M 311 

Coburn, Henry M 635 

Coburn, Joini J 588 

Coburn, Lewis L 126 

Cochran, Charles F 2.?6 

Coe, Albert L .367 

Coffeen. M. Lester z-ii 

Collins. Lorin C .=;3i 

Cooley. Lyman E 17 

Cooper. Sam B 180 

Cow'perthwaite. Allen C 12 

Crafts. Clayton E -,72 

Crowley. Joseph B 185 

Cullen. Edward W 581 

Cullom. Selby M 628 

Culver. Morton T 349 

Cunningham. William B 555 



PAGE 

Curtis, George M 631 

Custer, Jacob R 407 

Cutting, Charles S 109 

D. 

Darley, Edward C .S38 

Davidson, Charles A 311 

Davidson, James H 663 

Dawes, Chester M 29 

Deneen, Charles S .S27 

Dick, Charles 683 

Dietrich, Charles H 163 

Dixon, Arthur 374 

Dixon, George W 168 

Doe, Joseph B 251 

Donahoe, Daniel .S95 

Drake, Francis M 670 

Duncan, James W 218 

Dunn, Jesse .\ 192 

Dunne. Edward F 53 

Duntley. J. W 568 

Dupee. Charles A 88 

Durfcc. David M 469 

E. 

Eberhart, John F .S82 

Eberhart. Noble M 4,?6 

Eckels. James H S7 

Edwards. J. Harrington 205 

Eisendrath. Louis .s6o 

Ela. John W 91 

Elkin>. Stephen B 6n 

Elliott. William S.. Jr 176 

Elson. Herman i.?9 

Ennis. Lawrence M 537 

F. 

Fairbanks. Charles W .i75 

Fall. Henry J 600 

Farnum. Edward J n6 



INDEX 



PAGK 

Farr, Marvin A 355 

I'arsoii, John : 685 

Farwcll. Granger a?-' 

Foely, John J 45.^ 

Felkcr. Charles W 4.1 1 

Fclscnthal, Eli B i.^S 

Felt, Benjamin F ,i.?7 

I'\rgnson, Alcxaniler H 398 

Field. Flisha C 45 

Field, Marshall 3M 

Fisk. William J 296 

Fletcher, William M SX^ 

Foraker, Joseph B 687 

Foster. Addison G 11.? 

Frake, James f>i.l 

Francis, David R 5f'i 

Frazer, Emorj- D 40^ 

Freeman, Henry V 18 

Frochlich, William H 282 

Fuller. Oliver C 423 

G. 

Gage, Lyman J 8 

Gamble. Robert J 211 

Gary, Joseph E 289 

Gates, James L 380 

Gibson, Paris C/cj 

Gibson. Preston 205 

Gilbert, Allen A .S18 

Gile, Abner 266 

Gile, Gordon H 420 

Gilman. John E 63O 

Gilson. Norman S 484 

Goddard. Lester 277 

Goldspohn. Albert 614 

(joldzier, Julius 505 

Gordon, Newton !•" 35 

Gray, William H 534 

Gross, Howard II Co 

Grosscup, Peter S 50 

Grossvenor, Lemuel C 55^ 

Gunthcr, Charles F 154 

H. 

Haisler, Michael J 240 

Hamilton, David C; 579 

Hamilton, John T (>77 

Hamline, John H 287 

Hanecy, Elbridge 509 

Hanna. Marcus A 437 

Harding, Amos J 587 

Harper, John E 140 

Hart, Harry 686 

Hartnett, James 592 

Hawkes, Benjamin C 175 

Hay, Samuel M 414 

Heatwole, Joel P 173 

Hemenway, James A 319 



I'AGE 

Henderson. David B 483 

Ilenrotin, Fernand 5'0 

Merrick, John J in-> 

1 licks, ICmniett K. . . 'i-i 

llitt, Henry D 

Hill. Robert K 5')i 

1 1 1 '.nan. Thomas S 1 "O 

IIoMmiu. Jes-e 514 

ll.iliiu-s. Frank F I.?2 

Morton, Oliver H 541 

Hoync, Frank G 4.?2 

Hoyne, Thomas M 51 

Humphrey. Arthur 54 

1 lunt, Robert W 164 

llurd. Harvey B 188 

1 lurley. Michael A 466 

1 lyiie-. William J 649 

I. 

Ingram. Orrin H 314 

Isham. Edward .S 200 

J. 

Jackson, Alfred M 169 

Jenkins, James G 254 

Jenks, An.son B .S62 

Jett, Thomas M 627 

Joannes, Mitchell 472 

Jones, Frank H 405 

Jones, Granville D 471 

Jones, Joseph R 329 

Jones. W. Clyde .348 

Jones. Wesley L 685 

Jones. William H 247 

Judah, Noble B 92 

K. 

Kanouse. James E 288 

Kavanagh, Marcus, Jr 217 

Kelly, James J 513 

Kemper, S. V 186 

King, John A ,390 

King, John C .^79 

Kingman, Martin 131 

Kline, Sanuiel 1 186 

Knapp, (iaines A 68(j 

Knight, Clarence .X 66 

Kraus, .'Xdolf 212 

Kremer, Charles V. 74 

Kretzinger, George W 378 

L. 

Lacey. Edward S 5°' 

Lacey, John F 191 

Landis, Charles B 167 



I'AGE 

Leake, Joseph B 23 

Lloyd, James T 325 

Lockey, Richard 680 

Loeb. Adolph 21 

Long. Theodore K .so 

Lord. Frank E 289 

Lord. John B 182 

Lord. Thomas 194 

Lydston. G. Frank 680 

Lyford. Will H 635 

Lyttoii, Henry C 383 

M. 

Manderson. Charles F 227 

Marknian. Samuel K 270 

Martin, Eben W 663 

Mason, William E 604 

Mather, Alonzo C .386 

McCormick, Robert L 278 

McElroy, John H .366 

McGoorty, John P 412 

McLachlan. James 181 

McLennan, Alexander S 326 

McMunn, Samuel W 122 

McRae, Thomas C 221 

McWilliams, John G .s8 

McWilliams, Lafayette .S2 

Mendel. Henry M 344 

M iers. Robert W 169 

Miller, George W 239 

Milnor, Lloyd 491 

Minor. Edward S 257 

Money. Hernando D 270 

Moore, Emery B 498 

Munger. Edwin .X 271 

Murphy. John B 520 

N. 

Newman. Jacob 42 

Nixon. William P 324 

o. 

O'Donnell. Joseph A 128 

Oliver, Thomas T .^08 

Ostrander, Dempster 46 

Otis. Joseph E.. Jr 28 

Otis, Lucius B 413 

P. 

Packard, Samuel W 241 

Paine, George M 434 

Palmer, Henry L 395 

Palmer. John M 565 

Palmer. Potter 3 

Pattison, Martin 284 

Payne, Henry C 622 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Pearsons. Daniel K 603 

Pease, .'\rtlnir B ^62 

Peck. George R 495 

Perry. G. R I43 

Phillips. Milton C 428 

Pierson. George \V .I23 

Plum. William R 4S0 

Purler. Washington 4I1S 

Pratl, Edwin H ,TO7 

Price. Vincent C .S.i2 

Prince, Edward 114 

Prince, George W 161 

Putney, Alfred H SQS 

Q. 

Qnarles. Joseph Y 642 

R. 

Raymond, Charles W f).lJ 

Reeder, William A 245 

Rew, Henry C 654 

Reynolds, Edwin ,^56 

Rice, P. H 27 

Rohinson. Byron ,350 

Rogers. George M ,384 

Rosenthal. Julius 242 

Rosenthal. Moritz 641 

Runnells. John S 230 

Rush. George F 406 

Ryan. Andrew J 640 

Ryan. T. C 470 

S. 

Salomon. Edward 338 

Samuels. Daniel V 145 

Sawin. George 360 

Sawyer. Edgar P 408 

Sawyer, Frank P 193 

Sawyer, Philetus 404 

Scherzer, Albert H 487 

Schuyler, Daniel J 283 

Scott, Charles F 127 

Scott, Frank H 288 



PAOK 

Scull. Harry ^6 

Senn, Nicholas 623 

Sliackelford. James M 295 

Shaeffer. Samuel J 227 

Shaffer. John C 3^6 

Shoenfelt. J. Blair .300 

Silvcrlhorn, Willis C 4''io 

.Sinclair. Sydney E 657 

.Smith, Aimer 66(1 

Smith. Augustus L 24S 

Smith. Charles R 233 

Smith. Frederick A 459 

Smith, Henry C 139 

Smith, Ira B 246 

Smith, Orson 551 

Smith, Pliny B 16 

.Smulski, Jolin F 403 

Sorge. Adolph. Jr 294 

Southard. James H 251 

SiJooner, John C 4,lS 

Slamm. J. Charles 542 

Starr. Merritt 41/1 

Starring. Mason B 224 

Stensland, Paul O OiS 

Stephenson, Isaac 272 

Stevens, Walter A qti 

Stewart, Alexander 450 

Strickler, Harvey 216 

Strong. Amzi W .StSo 

Stumer. Louis M 162 

Sullivan, Roger C .'^.'^^ 

Sunny. Bernard E (15 

T. 

Tagert. .\delhert H 576 

Taylor, Thomas. Jr 402 

Taylor. William R 25S 

Thayer, Edward H 545 

Thomas, Benjamin 365 

Thompson, Jay J 502 

Thompson, Richard S 120 

Thornton, Charles S 678 

Tolman, Ed.gar B 396 

Towle, Henry S 645 

Trainor, John C 54S 



PAGE 

Trude. .\ltred S 40 

Trude. George A 361 

True. All)crl W 63 

V. 

\'an Allen. Martin 506 

\';m .Slyke. Napoleon B 607 

\';iughan. Elmer E 75 

X'eeder. Alfred H 134 

X'erity, William P 302 

Vocke. William 34 

Vollintine. Albert H 354 

W. 

Walker, Edwin iq8 

W'alker, Thomas B 146 

Wallace, John F 206 

Warnock. William R 137 

Warvelle. George W 524 

Waterman. Henry 658 

Waters, John E 2.34 

Weadock, Thomas A. E 368 

Weare. Portus B 234 

Weeks, Harvey T 479 

Wegg, David S 528 

Wells, Daniel, Jr. . . 650 

Weston, Charles V 464 

Weston, George 465 

White, William S 22 

Whiting. George A 675 

Wiekes. Thomas H 73 

Williams. Arista B 105 

Williams. Benzette 458 

Williams. Henry R 319 

Willing. Henry J 24 

Willoughby. Frederick A 373 

Wilson. John P 76 

Wolf. Henry M 518 

Wolfinger. Clarence 1 419 

Wyllie. Hubert D 153 

Y. 
^'|-nmg. Lawrence A 144 





^ 




'l^ 



7^^^>^^^' 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



POTTER PALMER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Mr. Potter Palmer, for more tlian fifty years 
a familiar fig-ure in the history of Chicago, began 
his career when what is now the second city in 
the United States was but a village and has grown 
with its growth, until his name and reputation 
are as far reaching as those of the city. His life 
has been one of untiring activity, and has been 
crowned with a degree of success attained by 
the comparatively few. He is of the highest type 
of citizen, and none more than he deserves a fit- 
ting recognition among the men whose hardy 
genius and splendid abilities have achieved results 
that are the wonder and admiration of the world. 

Of English ancestry, the family to which he 
belongs was first represented in this country in 
early colonial days. He is of the lineage of Wal- 
ter Palmer, a cumpanion of John Endicott in 
1029, and a settler at Wecjuetequeock Cove, near 
Stonington, Connecticut, where tlie reunions of 
the Palmer family are held to this day. They 
were Quakers, as were mnst of the families of 
New Bedford, Massachusetts, to which imi)ortant 
sea town they removed. During the Revolutionary 
War it was sacked by the British, the ancestors 
nf Mr. Palmer being among the sufferers. One 
of his grandfathers was a mere lad at the time. 
The other grandfatiier, although only fifteen 
years of age, enlisted in the army of independence, 
and served with honor until he received a wound 
that made him a cripple for life. 



After the loss at sea, during one year, of seven 
members of the family, Mr. I 'aimer's grandpar- 
ents removed to the interior, going to Albany 
county. New York, where Mr. Potter Palmer 
was born, in Rensselaerville, in 1826. His fatiier, 
Benjamin Palmer, who carried on an extensive 
stock farm, died in 1869, at the age of sixty-eight 
years. His mother, wdiose maiden name was 
Rebecca Potter, was born in 1793. Both parents 
were members of the Society of Friends, and to 
their wise and gentle, yet firm training, Mr. Pal- 
mer is accustomed to attribute his success in life. 
His father was a man of great influence in his 
community. He was the father of seven chil- 
dren, of whom our subject is the fourth. Potter 
Palmer passed his bovhood in his father's home 
and received a good common school education. 
At the age of eighteen j-ears he was permitted 
to choose his occupation in life and he preferred 
mercantile pursuits. He engaged in the store of 
the Hon. Piatt Adams, in Durham, Greene coun- 
ty. New York, as a clerk, his employer being both 
banker and merchant. With him he remained 
tlu'ee years. During the third year he was en- 
trusted with the entire management of the busi- 
ness. Arriving at his majority, he opened a store 
in Oneida, New York. He remained there two 
years and a half, and removed to Lockport, New 
York. He continued there one year, meeting 
with gratifying success in both places. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



He was constauth' planiiiny, huwever, for a 
wider lieUl nf (ipt-raticiiis, and uilli that foresight 
wliicli has been a marketl characteristic of his 
life, selected Chicago as the place which would 
become the metropolis of tiie then undeveloped 
West, am! tliither he inoNed in 1850. 

At that time Lake street was Chicago's prin- 
cipal thoroughfare, and there, upon his arrival, 
Air. Palmer opened a large retail dry goods store, 
investing his entire capital. He began at first 
on a moderate scale. His trade rapidly and stead- 
ily increased tuitil, after an experience of thir- 
teen years, the name of Potter Palmer became 
familiar in every trading community in the West, 
and his store the leading retail dry goods store 
of Chicago, iuilarging his facilities to meet the 
demand of his increasing trade, he added to his 
business a wholesale department, which rapidly 
grew to great magnitude under his skilled man- 
agement. Mr. Palmer had a true appreciation of 
the commercial facilities of Chicago, and did not 
hesitate to incur the risk demanded. The rise in 
goods soon after the war found him with a full 
stock on hand. Here again his far-seeing judg- 
ment enabled him to take at the ebb the tide 
that led to greater fortune, and from the begin- 
nmg of the war he continued to carry an immeuse 
amount of goods, lx)th here and in New York. 
The house, thus directed by his practical admin- 
istrative ability and keen mercantile foresight, be- 
came the largest of its kind in the Xnrtbwest, 
the policy guiding it being far broader and more 
lilieral than any previously pursued. 

Although encouraged by such Ijrilliant suc- 
cess, close application to business had caused Mr. 
I 'aimer's health to fail. Having acipiired a large 
fortune, he desired to retire altogether from the 
business world, and in 1865 he sold out to Field 
& Leiter, yo'Ung, ambitious men. who were just 
beginning their career. As they had nut the neces- 
sary capital t(i purchase and cimduct the business, 
Mr. Palmer left for two or three years some of 
his own money with the firm. It was then stvled 



Field, Palmer & Leiter, although Mr. Palmer 
had left Chicago and was traveling in Europe, 
and had nothing whate\-er to' do' with the n:au- 
agement of the firm. It later became Field & 
Leiter, and, although powerful rivals are now in 
the field, this firm, now Aiarshall Field & Co., 
still holds the pre-eminent pi.isition secured by Air. 
Palmer's able management. 

During the Civil War Mr. I'almer was prac- 
tical in his loyalty. He rendered himself specially 
serviceable to the government by loaning large 
amounts of money. He was a prominent con- 
tributor to the Board of Trade regiments organ- 
ized by the city toi go to the front. At the end 
of the war the government was in his debt to 
the extent of o\'er three-quarters of a million of 
dollars. 

Mr. Palmer at this time gave up Chicago as 
a place of residence and went to New York, al- 
though he returned to- Chicagoi frequently in 
order tO' invest his capital. He looked carefully 
over Chicago for suitable investments, his pref- 
erence being for real estate. An intelligent sur- 
vey of the situation convinced him that Lake 
street, then in the center of the retail trade, was 
not the natural and convenient channel for busi- 
ness, nor was it well located with reference to 
transportation facilities. Mr. Palmer foresaw 
that State street, wdiich crossed it at right angles, 
must become the natiu'al a\enue of retail busi- 
ness, and he accordingly bought extensively on 
that street, which was then narrow, irregular and 
built up with small and shabby wooden structures, 
used for saloons, boarding houses, third-rate 
shops, etc. To the widening and improving of 
this street Air. I'almer devoted several years of 
his life, as well as his large capital, and only 
those who have labored in similar thankless tasks, 
dealing with unsympathetic municipal authorities 
and selfish land owners, and a thousand and one 
legal and ])r;ictical difficulties, can estimate the ef- 
fort necessary to accomplish this splendid result. 
The city owes, then, this wide, magnificent street. 



PROillNENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



5 



nuw the main artery of the city, tu tlie effort of the 
one man who was foresighted, weaUhy, resohite 
and persistent enough to conceive, undertake and 
carry ti> a successful CDUchisiun this herculean 
task. All was (Icme willi a liljcral spirit, which 
has marked the policy pursued in every step of 
his career. His buildings were more massive and 
elegant than the requirements of the day de- 
manded, and he set a high standard in the new 
western metropolis. As soon as the splendid 
structures were ready to receive them, the larg- 
est and most influential retail Arms were forced 
to move into them, because of the obvious natural 
advantages presented by the location; and Lake 
street, when thus abandoned, became the im- 
portant center for certain lines of wholesale trade. 
Mr. Palmer might well have repeated Caesar's 
boast that he found a city of mud and left a city 
of marble, so great has been the change in the 
destiny of the street he took under his protect- 
ing care. 

By a sad fate, no sooner were his magnificent 
structures fairly completed, than the fire whicli 
laid waste the city in 1871 swept over this newly 
established center and every buildmg was laid 
in ashes. Thirty-two of Mr. Palmer's buildings, 
which yielded him a magnificent rental, were 
swept away in a few hours, among them being 
his handsome store on the northeast corner of 
State and Washington streets, six st(jries in 
height, which, at the time, was acknowledged the 
finest building in the United States. 

It is related of Mr. Palmer that when the ex- 
tent of his losses was fully understood by him 
he was s<t cast dnwn that he felt like giving up 
e\'ery business ambitiiru, taking the remnants of 
liis fortune and in quiet passing the remainder of 
liis existence. The same account further states 
that in this hnur of depression and indecision, 
his _\-()ung and beautiful wife, to whom he had 
been wedded Init a single year, consoled ^nd 
cheered him with a degree of tact and wisdom far 
beyond her years. As proud of her city as she 



was loyal to its interests, she pointed out to her 
hu.sband that the situation was one calling for 
more than cnnsideratiou of self, and that under 
the dreadful circumstances a duty devolved upon 
luni ; that his ambiliun cmild base no nobler 
aim than the resurrection from its ashes of tlie 
city which he had already done so much to build 
up and improve. Calmed and reassured by these 
courageous words, his mind resumed its normal 
workings, and in less than an hour he had re- 
solved upon a course of action which, entered 
upon within a day, was folio-wed undeviatingly 
despite every obstacle. With his hopes laid low 
b}- the destruction of the buildings he hail just 
completed with such pride, he was the first to 
begin the task of rebuilding. Mr. Palmer suf- 
fered not only loss of income and a large loss 
of capital, for his insurance yielded little, but, 
also, he had to begin a contest with the adven- 
turous and speculative spirits who sought to re- 
move the business center from where it had been, 
and completely ruin those who had already lost 
so much. Strong efforts were made to have the 
government become the partner of these spoilers 
tlirough the remoA-al of the public buildings — • 
postofiice, court hnuse, etc. — to other localities 
and thus destroy the value of the land that wa;- 
left by the fire. Stern and unfiinciiing efforts 
luul to Ije made in this time of profound discour- 
agement ti.) prevent such a cr_\ing injustice. In 
these measures he was pruminent, being ap- 
pointed at the head of a cduimittee to gx> to 
Washington and pre.sent the matter in its true 
light to Congress and the cabinet. In the end 
the effort to hold the cit}- U> its old locality was 
successful. 

Immediately after the fire i\fr. Palmer soon 
had employed an arm\' nf workmen upon the 
ruins of his own buildings. The huge pile of de- 
l)ris melted as if 1)\' magic, and u]iiin the cleared 
s]iace new structures sj>eedily .amse, grander and 
more perfect than those that had been destroyed, 
and all constnicted with a view to prevent in tlie 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



future a repetition of tlie disaster tlirougli which 
the city had just passed. The mercantile creiht, 
which years oi honoral)le ilealing had founded as 
uix>n a rock, and which apparently that disaster 
had not been able to afifect, was the basis of Mr. 
J:'almer"s operations in those days. Hundreds of 
tons of building materials were prumptly laid 
down whenever he requested. In the prompt el- 
fort to rebuild Chicago, the makers of structural 
iron in this countrj- were immediately over- 
whelmed with orders, prices went up and it was 
impossible to get iron delivered. The fact tliat a 
very heavy duty was demanded on structural iron 
imported from foreign countries brought build- 
ing to a standstill. Mr. Palmer was made one of 
a committee sent to Washington to secure from 
Congress legislation that would relieve the situa- 
tion by remitting the duties on iron and building 
material imported for the rebuilding of Chicago. 
Because of this emergency Congress listened to 
the strong plea that was made and passed a spe- 
cial bill, permitting, for a limited time, building 
materials to be imported from abroad without 
payment of duties. All of the iron used by Mr. 
Palmer at this time was imported from Belgium, 
and in order to hasten the coustructiun of his 
buildings work was continued upon them liy night 
as well as by day, this being rendered possible 
by the use of artificial light, then employed for 
the first time in the history- of building. His ex- 
ample was a constant inspiration to his less con- 
fident fellow sufiferers, and, in connection with 
that of a handful of other courageous business 
men, gradually evolved order out of chaos, and 
in time caused what was regarded as a never-to- 
be-forgotten calamity, to be looked uixjn as a 
blessing in disgiiise. 

To enumerate in detail the many projects set 
on foot and carried to a successful completion 
by Mr. Palmer cannot be attempted in a mere 
biographical sketch. But no account of liis life, 
however brief, can omit reference to his splendid 
achievements in developing the famous Lake 



Shore Drive of Chicago. When this magnificent 
boule\ard was first laid out in 1^73, his unerring 
judgment foresaw that it held the most brilliant 
possibilities as the most beautiful avenue of the 
city. Without hesitation he made extensive pur- 
chases of vacant land bordering upon it. The 
v.hule territory was a vast waste, but Mr. I'ahner 
had it filled in. This required some one person 
who had large property interests, that the work 
might be well and properly done. He used sea 
sand for filling, to avert danger of malaria, and 
laid out the streets. He also built up the side 
streets leading to the Lake Shore Drive and had 
them well paved. He built other handsome res- 
idences along the driveway, no two exactly sim- 
ilar in architecture. Such an example was not 
lost uix)n public-spirited Chicagoans, and the re- 
suit, as witnessed to-day, is one of the most nota- 
ble of Mr. Palmer's achievements. Here, too, 
at the southern extremity of Lincoln Park, and 
overlooking the lake, he built his uwn home, 
which is regarded as one of the finest in America, 
v.herein is embodied the splendid triumphs of 
architectural skill; with its broad lawns, well- 
kept gardens and luxurious furnishings, it pre- 
sents a model of completeness. 

Mr. Palmer was also one of the originators of 
the South Park system. He took an active part 
in laying out the boulevards and parks of the 
South Side, and was for some time a member of 
the South Park Board. After he left the board, 
one of the important avenues in Washington Park 
was named after him. 

He was active in securing the location of the 
World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, and 
from its inception was untiring in his zeal and 
unsparing with his mimey and time in further- 
ing its interests and enabling it to become the 
colossal success it has been, serving as vice- 
president and a mem]>er of the Board of Direc- 
tors. In all the plans and deliberations of its 
managers he was an earnest advisor and helpful 
coadjutor. He is among the foremost and most 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



liljeral givers for public institiUinns and charitable 
objects. 

He has always taken a great interest in poli- 
tics, but has never been willing to hold an office. 
He was offered the office of Secretary of the In- 
terior by President Grant, but it came at a time 
when he was so much occupied in rebuilding that 
he could not make his personal interest secondary. 
He has never had a partner, but has always con- 
ducted his business alone, and made his fortune 
through his own efforts and without the assist- 
ance of others. 

It is but simple justice to Mr. Palmer to re- 
cord the fact that no man in Chicago is more alive 
to the duties which wealth imposes. His colossal 
fortune, numbering many millions, has been won 
open handed and by legitimate business methods ; 
it imposes vast obligations, and is very liberally 
employed in every channel where advantage could 
flow to the city of Chicago and its people. In 
all the various projects which have engaged the 
attention or called for the support of the people 
of Chicago, Potter Palmer has always been one 
of the foremost. As a patron of art and as a 
faithful supporter of religion and morality, his 
reputation is national. 

In July, 1870, Mr. Palmer was married to 
Miss Bertha Honore, daughter of Henry H. Hon- 
ore, of Chicago. She is a woman of superior in- 
tellectuality, and with her versatile talents, gener- 
ous culture and true womanly traits, gracefully 
adorns the high station in life she has been called 
to fill. Not only does she enter heartily into 
the most ambitious projects of her husband, aid- 
ing with her counsel, but she also has her own 
field of action. She takes an active part in char- 
itable enterprises, and with her ample means 
makes wise use of her opportunities of doing 



good. Her labors in l>ehalf of the World's Fair 
were very great, and no one did so much as 
she to interest in its behalf the women of our 
own and other countries, and in history her 
name will be inseparably linked with that great 
enterprise. Her selection as President of the 
Board of Lady Managers was a fitting recogni- 
tion of her unselfish devotion to what is to her 
a patriotic service. She was member of the 
Executive Committee of the General Relief Asso- 
ciation, formed December 9, 1893, tO' relieve the 
distress of the unemployed' poor. In honor of his 
wife Mr. Palmer gave two hundred thousand 
dollars to the Woman's Building at the World's 
Fair. Mrs. Palmer was the one lady appointed 
by President McKinley ui>on the United States 
Commission of eighteen members, to represent 
the United States at the E.xposition at Paris, held 
in 1900. This is the first instance, in the history 
of any country, of a lady being appointed to such 
a position. It is needless to say that she filled 
it with honor to herself as well as tO' the United 
States Government, and her countrymen and 
women are proud of her many brilliant achieve- 
ments. She was given the decoration of the 
Legion of Honor by the French Government in 
recognition of her services. 

Mr. and Mrs. Palmer ha\e two sons, Honore 
and Potter Palmer, Jr., graduates of Harvard 
University, who have commenced their business 
life, and brilliant things are e.xpected of them. 
Honore Palmer was recently elected Alderman of 
the Twenty-first Ward of Chicago, gaining by 
twelve hundred majority a constituency that was 
two thousand against him. He is a young man of 
great promise. 

Mr. Palmer tlied at his residence in Chicago, 
May 4, 1902. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



LYMAN J. GAGE 

CHICAGO. ILL. 

Lvinan J- Gage, ex-Secretary of the Treasury \ard and planing mill, at the corner of Canal and 

of the I'nited States, is one of the hest-known Adams streets. His duties here were of a varied 

bankers and financiers in the United States. He character, ranging from lx)ok1<eeping to driving 

was horn at De Ruyter, Aladison county. New team and loading lumber. In this employment he 

York, June 28, 1836. His parents, Eli A. and remained three years. 

]\Iary (Judson) Gage, were both of English de- In 1858, a time of great business depression, 

scent, their inime<liate ancestors having been a change in the management of this establishment 

among the earliest settlers of New England, resulted in his leaving its service. Owing to the 

They also were natives of the state of New York, general dullness of business he was unable to find 

When Lyman was ten years old the family such employment as his abilities warranted him 
remo\ed to Rome. New York, where he entered hi seeking. Rut he had no inclination to spend a 
the Rome Academy, which was established about single day in idleness, and, with the same cheer- 
that time. Leaving school four years later, he en- fulness he had exhibited in accepting his first pe- 
tered actixely uimn a life of industrv and enter- sition on his arrival in Chicago, he became a 
prise, which has been characterized bv an in- night-watchman for the same establishment, 
domitable will and high standard of integrity. This period of probation, however, did not last 
and a tireless jierseverance which could scarcely h'Ug. for such ability, industr\- and aniilicatiou as 
fail to result in the eminent success which he has characterized the young man had not failed to at- 
achie\'cd. His first empliivnieut was as clerk in tract attention, and the wav was soon opened for 
the Fiome post-office, and when he was fifteen their full exercise. He had only held the post of 
years old he was detailed by the [wstmaster as night-watchman at Cobb's for about six weeks, 
mail route agent on the Rome & Watertown when the opportunitv offered for him to start 
R;iilrii;id, and ser\ed in tli;it cajjacitv until the upon that career which has made him famous in 
postmaster-general ajipointed regular agents for the world of finance. He was then offered and 
the route. ,-iCcepted the position as bookkeeper in the Mer- 

In 1854, when eighteen years of age, he en- chant's Savings. Loan and Trust Company, at 

tered the services of the Oneida Central Bank at a salary of $500 per year. Entering upon the 

Ri>me. as junicir clerk, at a salary of (ine hundred discharge of the duties of this position in August, 

dollars per year, and faithfully discharged all 1858, he had only to wait till the beginning of 

the duties of that positii>n. from counting cash to the following year for advancement, at that time 

sweeping out the bank. His employers, being being made paying teller, at a salary of one 

ur,;il)le to meet his request for an advance of his thousand two hundred dollars. Li the spring of 

modest salary, at the end of a year and a half of 1S60 he was appointed assistant cashier, at a 

service, Mr. Gage determined to seek a wider field salary of two thousand dollars, and a }-ear 

of u.sefulness. He saw that the great new west Liter he became cashier of the bank, which office 

was then offering much better opportunities for a he held until August, 1868, when he was offered 

young man of energy and ability than were a similar position in the First National Bank of 

readily obtainable in the conservative east, and in Chicago, and was identified with that great finan- 

the fall of 1855 lie set out for Chicago, where he cial institution until 1896, when President Mc- 

soon found employment in Nathan Cobb's lumber Kinley induced him to accept a place in his cabi- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



II 



net, appointing him Secretary of tlie Treasury of 
the United States. 

The old charter oi tlio First Xalional Ikink 
expired in i88j, wlien tlie institutiim was re- 
organized, Mr. Gage being clmsen as vice-presi- 
dent and general manager. On tlie 24th of Jan- 
uary, 1891, Mr. Gage became president o'f Ihe 
Ijank. Under his superv-isiou and control the 
First National has liecome the leading bank of the 
niirthwest, both as to capital and the vohune of 
its transactions. 

His high standing as a banker and financier 
was fully recognized by the American Bankers' 
Association, which was organized at Philadelphia 
on October 4, 1876. its membershii) lieing ci im- 
posed of the leading bankers and financiers of 
the country. In 1882 this association elected Mr. 
Gage its president, and so ably did he fill the 
office that he was re-elected twice in succession, 
the only man on whom this honor has been con- 
ferred. 

After the panic of 1873 there was a general 
totter among the smaller institutiii'ns. and the 
wave of disaster engulfed one natinnal bank in 
Chicago after another, causing the greatest con- 
sternation among mercantile men. Throughout 
this trying period the First National stood firm 
and unshaken. The high standing and great in- 
fluence which it holds so justly iu: the estimation 
of the community and banking circles, ni>t only in 
this country, but of Europe, are evidence of the 
integrit^r and prudence which have characterized 
the management of its afYairs. 

From the earliest inception of the World's 
Fair movement in Chicago, the name of Lyman 
J. Gage was associated with it. and his guid- 
ing spirit directed e\'ery step that was taken 
in the furtherance of the great enterprise. Dur- 
ing the early agitation of the subject he was 
prominent, especially in the organization of the 
committee to whom was entrusted the formula- 
tion of plans for bringing the Fair to Chicago. 
WTien the opposition to Chicago, led by Senator 



Miscock, of New York, took the f(irm in the sen- 
ate committee of a lack of confidence that Chicagcj 
would carry out her pledge to provide ten mil- 
lions of dollars towards the e.xpense and prepara- 
tion for the b'air. it was a written assurance of 
Mr. Gag^e and three other financial men of this 
city that finally overcame all objections and led 
to the Iiill being- appro'ved by the senate. The 
three others were J. J. P. Odell, president of the 
Union: National Hank; J. \V. Doane, president of 
the Merchants" Loan and Trust Company, and 
Wirt Dexter, Esq. 

When the local corixtration kn<;iwn as the 
World's Columlii.'ui Exposition was organized, 
in which work be pla\ed a most important i)art, 
and the choice of an executive becatne necessary, 
he was the only man who apjjeared to be accept- 
able to the directors without a dissenting voice, 
and was unanimously elected to' the presidency of 
the Chicago Board of Directors, oii the 30th of 
April. 1890. He accepted the honor with re- 
luctance, because he had been for some time the 
acting president of the First National Bank, and 
his duties in Cdunection with the bank alisorbed 
so much of his attenti<in that he doubted bis abil- 
ity to give tO' the business of the Fair the degree 
of attention which he considered indisi;)ensable. 
He was therefore unwilling to jeopardize the in- 
terests of the great undertaking- by assuming the 
positicin I if its cxccuti\e bead. but. ba\-ing ac- 
cepted, he t(Hik the enterprise in hand' with .all 
bis characteristic energy and sagacity. All 
thnjugh the stiirm_\- days of the first year of the 
history of the undertaking his wisdom and cour- 
age was the sustaining force that carried through 
the great work. 

On the 24th (if January. 1891. be resigned the 
|iresidency of the board of directors, having been 
elected president of the First National Bank, of 
which be had Ijeen for a considerable time the 
actual head, owing to the absence of the presi- 
dent, ]\Ir. S. N. Nicker,son. His retirement from 
the post of chief executive of the Fair was univer- 



12 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



s;illy regretted, but Mr. Gage still continued to 
act as one of its directors. He felt he had no 
other alternative than to resign, as the interests 
of the bank required his whole attention. 

Mr. Gage refused to accept the compensation 
voted to him by the directors. Since that time 
to the close of the Fair he continuously gave val- 
uable services to the board, and it was while on 
his way to attend a banquet at Delmonico's, in 
New "N'ork. gi\en liy the National Commission- 
ers of that state, to bring together the representa- 
tives of the various industries of the country in 
the interest of the Fair, that Mr. Gage was 
stricken down with illness which necessitated a 
\ery critical operation and which it was at one 
time thought would have a fatal termination. 
Throughout the entire country there was general 
rejoicing at the assurance of his recovery. 

Mr. Gage is a member of two of the leading 
social clubs of Chicago, the Chicago and the 
Union Clubs. He has also been president of the 
Commercial Club, the memijership of which is 
limited to sixty, representing the most important 
branches of business and the most enterprising 
industries of the city. He was a director and 
treasurer of the Art Institute of Chicago. 



Though he has been a busy man all his life, 
Mr. Gage has found time to devote to the pleas- 
ures of literature. He is a diligent student and 
an iimnivorous reader. His private library is 
one of the choicest in the city. "He does not," 
says one of his friends, "waste his time, money 
and energy collecting worthless editions of worth- 
less books, in extra illustrating or in any similar 
way. He spends his days in business, and his 
nights with the classics. I suppose there is 
not another man who can compare with 
him in the extent, variety and accuracy of his 
knowledge." Those who have noticed the style 
of Mr. Gage's public utterances must have been 
struck with the fact that he has formed it up<in 
g(X)d literary models. 

Mr. Gage has been twice married; first in 
1864, to Miss Sarah Etheridge, daughter of 
Francis E. Etheridge of Little Falls, New York. 
She died in 1874. In 1887 he was married to 
his second wife, Cornelia Gage, of Denver, Colo- 
rado. She died at Washington in May, 1901. 
I\Ir. Gage has since resigned as Secretary 
of the Treasurv and accepted the presidency of 
the United States Trust Company, of New York 
Citv. 



ALLEN C. COWPERTHWAITE, N\. D., Ph.D., LL. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Allen Corson Cowperthwaite was l)orn on of the day, he only enjoyed such ad\-antages as 

May 3, 1849, the son of Joseph C. and Del)orah were afiforded !)y a course of instruction at 

Cowperthwaite, of Philadelphia. The father was Toulon Seminar}-. As a boy young Cowperth- 

by profession a dentist and a gentleman of liberal waite was active and ambitious, and before ar- 

culture, being a graduate of the University of riving at the age of twelve vears he had made 

Pennsylvania. He was especially noted for h^s considerable progress in mastering the printer's 

attainments as a mathematician, having been the trade, and subsequently also varied his studious 

author of a work on Calculus. hours by acting as fire insurance and book agent. 

When .\llen was but a few months old his His success in the sale of "Parson Brownlow's 

parents moved to Toulon, Illinois, where his Ixiy- Book," added to the fact that his literary tastes 

hood days were spent among the surroundings of early culminated in authorship, induced him, 

a new and undeveloped country. In addition to a after completing his seminary course, to enter 

primary education secured in the common schools the book business at Kewanee, Illinois. After be- 






'^^^^-'^-I^^^^^-T^ . 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



15 



ing tlius pleasantly and profitably employed for 
four years, he coninienced tlie study of medi- 
cine, his first preceptor beincr ])r. T. Bacmeister, 
of Toulon. .Afterward, he spent sduie time un- 
der the tutorage of the celebrated Dr. Constan- 
tine Hering. of Philadelphia. 

Graduating from the Hahnemann Medical 
College of Philadelphia, on March 3, 1869, be- 
fore ha\'ing attained the required age, Dr. 
Cowperthwaite soon after received his diploma 
and commenced practice at Gah'a, Illinois. Here 
he remained four years and then moved to Ne- 
braska City, Nebraska. 

While there he was mainly instrumental in 
founding the Nebraska State Homeopathic Med- 
ical Association, wdiich has since become a very 
flourishing organization. Meanwhile he began 
writing on various medical subjects and became a 
recognized authority on many subjects. 

In 1876 his first complete medical work was 
published, entitled "Insanity in Its Medico-Legal 
Relations," and in the same year he lectured be- 
fore the faculty and students of the Central Uni- 
versity of Iowa in so masterly a manner that the 
institution conferred upon him the degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy. In the following year, 
1877, he \vas elected tiv the chair of Mental and 
Nervous Diseases in the Hahnemann Medical 
College of Philadelphia and was about to accept, 
when he was tendered the position of Deair and 
Professor of Materia Medica in the newly or- 
ganized homeopathic medical department of the 
State University of Iowa. This position' he ac- 
cepted and held with honor for fifteen years. 

Dr. Cowperthwaite is the author of several 
valual)le medical works, all of which have been 
in large demand. In/ 1880 the first edition of 
his "Materia Medica" appeared and the l>ook has 
since passed through se\-en additions, being one 
of the mo.st extensi\'ely used te.xt-books uixin this 
important subject ever published. In 1888 his 
first text-book on "Gmecology" was published 
and was well received in the profession. In 1885 



his fine scientific and literary attainments were 
recognized by Shurtleff College, at Alton, Illinois, 
which conferred upon him the degree of Doctor 
of Laws, and in 1887 he was elected a Fellow 
of the Society of Science, Literature and Arts, 
of London, England. 

As a further indication of the broad reputa- 
tion made by Dr. Cowperthwaite it may be stated 
that since 1883 he has been six times tendered 
a chair in the University of Michigan at Ann 
Arbor. In 1884 he accepted the professorship of 
Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the homeo- 
pathic college of the alx>ve university and was 
chosen Deau' of the faculty. He still held this 
position in the L^niversity of Iowa, but by tra\el- 
ing back and forth he successfully did the work 
required in both institutions for one year. At 
the end of that time, such were the wearing de- 
mands made upom him, that he resigned the 
Michigan appointment, devoting his energies to 
the work in Iowa. Though since offered the 
chair occupied by him in the Michigan Univer- 
sity he has felt obliged to decline. 

In August, 1892. Dr. Cowperthwaite came 
to Chicago for a wider field and greater oppor- 
tunities, and was at once elected Professor of 
Materia Medica and Therapentics in the Chi- 
cago Homeopathic College, which position he 
still holds. His services since coming to this city 
have been in such demand that, in February, 
1893, he was elected superintendent of the Chi- 
cago Baptist Hospital, and in January, 1894, 
was called to the presidency of the then recently 
organized Homeopathic Post-Graduate Medical 
College in this city, both of which positions he 
has since occupied with increasing satisfaction to 
all concerned. 

The Doctor has alwa\s been prominent in 
the activities of the State and national medical 
societies and is an honorary member of se\-eral 
State associations. He has been president of the 
State societies of both Iowa and Nebraska. In 
1875 he became a member of the American In- 



i6 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



stitute of Homeopathy. lia\ing- attended every 
meetinpf since and been closely identitied with 
its work. In 1884 lie wa.s chosen to the vice- 
presidency and in 1887 was elected president of 
the latter body. He is also a member of several 
of the local medical societies of the city. 

Since 1886, when he was initiated into the or- 
der at Kewanee, Illinois, Dr. Cowperthwaite has 
Ixen a prominent member of the I. O. O. F., 
having taken all the degrees and at various times 
filled all the \arinus subordinate offices. He has 
been a member nf the grand lodges of Illinois, 
Iowa and Nebraska and has occupied the high- 
est State offices in the grand encampments. 

In. his religious affiliations the Doctor is a 
Baptist, liaving united with the church in 1886 
at Kewanee. Illinois, and since Ijeen pmniinent in 



the work of that denomination. Since coming 
tcv Chicago he has l>een united with the Fourth 
Baptist Church, in' which he is an active member 
and one of its trustees. Politically, he is a stanch 
Republican, or to put it in his r>wn wa}' : "I was 
born a Republican and I have never changed." 
On June 2, 1870, Dr. Cowperthwaite was 
married to Miss Ida E. Erving of Oskaloosa, 
Iowa, daughter of the late Dr. Joel F. Erving. 
A promising son, Joseph Erving, and an accom- 
plished daughter, Florence Elfleda, have been 
born to them. The home circle is a bright and 
hap])y one, to w h'ich he delights tO' retire from 
professional and business cares as to a sanctu- 
arv and where, with his estimable wife, he 
extends a hispitable welcome to his chosen 
friends. 



PLINY B. SMITH 

CH1C.\G0, ILL. 

In the classification of the lawvers of Chi- .\rbor Law School, attending t'.iat institution 
cago the name of I'linv B. Smith will always oc- one term. He then finished his law studies in 
cupy a notable place among the citizens <if that Chicago in the office of Durham & Bonfield, and 
citv, in the first rank of the meml)ers of the later in the office of Joseph F. Bonfield, being ad- 
legal ijrofession. He is a successful lawyer, mitted to the bar in 1872. He was admitted to 
thoroughly skilled in the science practice in the supreme court of the United 
which he practices. Of great States March 11. 1S92. Since being admitted 

to the bar in Couk ct)unty in 1872, he has prac- 
ticed all the time in the courts of this county. 
Mr. Smith lias iie\er sought or held public office, 
with the e.xcei)tioii of once being director of the 
Chicago Public Library Board for six years, 
rUiiv I'l. Smith was born Feb- from the year 1887 to 1893, and it was during 
ruarv 18, 1S30, in Du Page tliis time that the board' commenced the erection 
CI uiitw Illinois, and is a son of of the present magnificent ])ublic library build- 
Tniman W. and Elizabeth ( Durkee) Smith, ing of Chicago. He is a member of the Union 
and a grandson of Elijah Smith. His early ed- League and the Hamilton Clubs. Politically Mr. 
ucation was obtained in the common schools of Smith is a stalwart Republican, and has sup- 
Illinois. He was raised on a farm and carried ported this ]>arty from the time he cast his first 
on farming until twenty years of age, teaching vote. He has been urged to become a candidate 
school winters and working on the farm in sum- for office, but has always declined the honor, 
nier. In the fall of 1870 he entered the Ann His integrity of character and many generous 




discernment, and readiness of re- 
source in ;irgunient, he has at- 
tained great prominence as a 
1 leader at the bar. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



17 



qualities, together with his remarkal)le mind and 
courteous address, liave won for liini pcrsunal 
po])ularity and the higliest respect. 

Mr. Smith is a bacliclor. He is a man 
possessed nf many fine traits of character. By 



nature, study and hahit he is admirably fitted 
for his calling, and is regarded by his fellow 
members in the profession as one of the leading 
lawyers of the Illinois bar. 



LYMAN EDGAR COOLEY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

I._\nian Edgar Cooley, civil engineer, was four \-ears following he had charge of local im- 

born at Canandaigua, Ontario county. New pro\-emenls and surseys in Nebraska, Iowa, Wis- 

York, December 5, 1850, son of Albert B. and cousin, Arkansas and Tennessee. For two years 

Aksah ( Griswolcl) Cooley. He is a great-grand- more he was chief assistant in general charge 

son of Jolm Cooley, who removed to western (if all the local wi irk un the Missouri river below 

New York from Connecticut Yankton. Rcturnino- to Chicago toward the end 

^Si^ early in the nineteenth century, of 1884, Mr. Cooley l)ecame editor of the Amer- 

making his home on a farm a few ican Engineer, but in 1888 severed his connec- 

miles west of Canandaigua. tion' with that journal. Later he became inter- 

The family is traced to Sir ested' in sanitary agitation. As a member of a 

^\'illiam Cooley in Tuigland, lie- sub-committee c>f the Citizens' Association, he 

fore whose time the n.ame is drew the repnrl, in September, 1885, which be- 








gan the pulilic agitation in favor of a sanitary 
canal, and aided in securing the organization of 
a drainage and water supply commissinn, of 
which he was chief assistant in 1886-87. In 
1888 he was consulting engineer to the city and 
to the comnu'ssion that framed the sanitary dis- 
trict act, and represented the city and its seven 
ci\ic organizations in promoting the bill to a pas- 



found written Cowlev and Collew 

A collateral branch w as the 

\\'elleslev or \\'eslev famil\-, ,ind 

frnni one Richard Colley. who 
assumed this name to inherit estates, Arthur 
Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellingtim, was de- 
scended. 

After a ci>urse of stud\- at the Canandaigua 
Academy, Lyman E. CooIe_\- taught in that insti- sage by the state legislature in 1881). He acted 
tution in 1870-72, and then attended the Reus- as engineer to the commission that determined 
selaer Polytechnic Institution at Troy, where he the Ixiundaries of the sanitary district in 1889. 
was graduated in 1874, having covered the course and in the autumn of i8go became a member of 
in two years' time. In 1874-77 lie Ijecame the the board of trustees, serving until the ex])iration 
professor of engineering at the Northwestern of his term, in Deceml)er, 1895, and during the 
University at Evanston. Illinois: in 1876-78 was entire time was chairman of the engineering com- 
ass(X-iate editor of the Engineering News. In mittee. He also acted as consulting engineer of 
1878 he aided William Sooey Smith in the con- the sanitary district in 1897. Since 1889 he has 
struction of the radroad bridge o\er the Mis- taken an active interest in the extension of the 
sou:i at Glasco, Missouri. Later in the year he taxing power in the district: in fact, has stood 
was engaged under ]\Iajor ( now Colonel ) Suter sponsor for all legislation thus far had in rela- 
011 the improvement of the Missouri and Missis- tion to this question. In 1895 he was appointed 
sippi ri\-er, with headquarters at St. Louis. For by President Cleveland a member of the inter- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



national deep waterways commission (a joint 
commission with Canada), together witli Dr. 
James B. Angell, of Michigan, and Hon. Joini 
E. Russell, of Massachusetts, and liad charge of 
the investigation. Sur\eys are now in progress, 
the ohject being navigation from the ocean to 
Chicago and Duluth via the Great Lakes. Of 
the international association to promote this ob- 
ject he was the American vice-president. In the 
fall of 1897 Mr. Cooley, with a number of con- 
tractors and engineers selected by him. went to 
Nicaragua, incidentally visiting Panama, for the 
purjxjse of advancing the Nicaragua Canal. The 
events of the Spanish War interrupted their 
plans, and the project has since been a matter of 
Government concern. 

In the summer of 1898 he acted as advisory 
engineer to the committee appointed by Governor 
Black to investigate the expenditures for the im- 
provements of the canals of the state of New 
York under what is known as the "Nine Million 



Act." In 1896-97 he served as a member of the 
expert committee appointed by Mayor Swift, of 
Chicago, to devise a remedy for the pollution of 
Lake Michigan by means of intercepting sewers, 
etc. He has been a member of the Western So- 
ciety of Civil Engineers since 1875, and in 1888 
was secretary, and also president two terms, 
1890-91. Mr. Cooley is a member of the Ameri- 
can Society of Civil Engineers and of the Chi- 
cago Academy of Sciences. 

He has lectured at the State LTnix'ersities of 
Wisconsin and Illinois and before the faculty of 
Michigan University. His most important pub- 
lications on his special subject are "Lakes and 
Gulf Waterways" (1888-89) 3"<1 '' more elab- 
orate work with the same title in 1891. 

He was married at Canandaigua, New York, 
December 31, 1874, to Lucena, daughter of Peter 
and Lucena (McMillan) McMillan. They have 
two sons and a daughter. 



HON. HENRY VARNUM FREEMAN 

CHICAGCJ. ILL. 

Hon. Henry \'armmi Freeman, presiding pression of the rebellion, and enlisted in the sum- 
justice of the Branch Appellate Court, First Dis- mer of 1862 as a private, but was shortly pro- 
trict of Illinois, is accorded a distinguished place moted to be first sergeant of Company K, Sev- 
among the judges of the state of Illinois. enty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He 

Judge Freeiuan was Ixirn at Bridgeton, New served with the .\rmy of the CumlKM-land until 

Jersey, December 20, 1842. His parents, Henry the close of the war, and returned to his home 

and Mary (Bangs) Freeman, were both of Puri- in July, 1865, with the rank of captain of Com- 

tan ancestry, his father being a lineal descendant i)any D. Twelfth Infantry, U. S. C. T. 

of Elder William Brewster and of Governor lu the fall of 1863 he entered the freshman 

Thomau' Trence, of Plymouth colony. Judge chiss of Yale Uni\-ersity. from which institution 

Freeman beglan teaching district schools in he graduated in i8fi(>. with the degree of A. B., 

Stevenson and Ogle counties, Illinois, when he and has since received the degree of A. M. from 

was sixteen years of age, and later equipped him- his alma mater. He came tr> Chicago in Octol>er 

self for college in the preparatory department at of that year and studied law in the oftice of King, 

Beloit, Wisconsin. He had just completed this Scott & Payson and also with Hibbard, Rich & 

portion of his education and passed the examina- Noble, and was admitted to the liar in 1870. Im- 

tions for admittance to university grades when mediately after the Chicago fire Judge Freeman 

he gave his services to his country for the sup- was offered the principalship of the high school 






^{-z:^Aeec^^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



21 



at Clmrleston, Illinois, a position he accepted and 
filled one year. He returned to Chicagci in July, 
1872, and the following January began the inde- 
l>endent practice of law. He remained in active 
practice for twenty years, and during this time 
was engaged in many of the mure important 
cases which came before the courts for settle- 
ment. In the "annexation litigation" of some 
years ago he represented Hyde Park, then the 
"largest village in the world," being at that time 
the village attorney, and his views were fully 
sustained by the Supreme Court, to which body 
the cases were carried. 

In the spring of 1893 Judge Freeman was 
nominated by the Bar Association of Chicago for 
judge of the superior court, a position to which 
he was elected the following fall, and to' which he 
was re-elected in 1898. His services on the 
bench were of such a character that in the early 
part of 1898 the members of the supreme court 
selected him as one of the judges of the Branch 



Appellate Court, of which he is now presiding 
justice. His opinions ai>i)ear in the Illinois Appel- 
late Court reports, commencing with Volume 75. 

Judge Freeman was for many years the senior 
member of the firm of Freeman & Walker. He 
is a member and has been president ot the Chi- 
cago Literary Clul), and a member of the Uni- 
versity and Quadrangle Clubs, Hamilton Club, ot 
the George H. Thomas Post, Grand Army of the 
Republic, and of the Illinois Commandery of the 
Military Order of the Loyal Legion, of which he 
has recently been made commander. 

He was married in 1873 to Miss Mary L. 
Curtis, daughter of Rev. William S. Curtis, 
D. D., then of Rockford, Illinois, and has a fam- 
ily of four children. 

Judge Freeman has stood in the front rank 
both as a lawyer and judge for over twenty-seven 
years, and during that time nothing has-been 
allowed to divert him from his profession. He 
never relies on others to do his work. 



ADOLPH LOEB 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Adolph Loeb, senior member of the insurance went south, and for a number of years lived at 

firm of Adolph Loeb & Son, manager of the Memphis, Tennessee. Very early in life he 

North German and Transatlantic Insurance Com- started in the insurance business and became an 

pany of Hamburg, and vice-president and west- expert in his line, was very successful, and has 

ern manager of the North German Insurance since constantly remained' in the business. In 

Company of New York, is one of the best and 1873 Mr. Loel) moved to Chicago, and at once 

favorably known insurance men of the west, won his way in the esteem of his fellow citizens. 

He is highly respected for his abilit)- and purity especially that of his Jewish co-religionists. 

of character. Almost his entire life has been de- Almost immediately he became an active member 

voted to the insurance business, in which he has of the Jewish community and his mfiuence soon 

attained marked eminence. manifested itself. In his southern home he was 

Adolph Loeb was born in the nld historic city prominent in B'nai B'rith affairs, and the leaders 

cf Germany, Bingen on the Rhine, in tlie year of No. 6 recei\ed him with open arms. He was 

1839. The familv of Loeb have been prominent elected grand secretary for the district, which 

in Germany for several generations. At the age office he held for ten years. 

of fourteen he came to America and siient his Mr. Loel> was president of the Russian Aid 

y<-)uth in the city of New York. Im-oiu there he Society, established for the benefit of Russian 



22 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



refugees, and wliicli societx- existed for two years, 
1892-1894. Fur twenty-live years up to 1900 he 
wris ;i memljer of tlic l>oard of United Hebrew- 
Charities, and during- the last twenty years (jf this 
time he frequently held important offices in the 
Standard Club, of which he is a charter member. 
.\t present he is jjresident of the Sinai Con- 
gregation, ex-grand ])resident of District No. (1, 
B'nai R'ritli, president of the Jewish Agricultural 



Aid Si>ciety of .\merica, trustee of the Cleveland 
Orphan Asylum, a member of tlie Art Institute, 
of the Cixic Federation and of the Citizens' As- 
sociation. 

All these high honors and distinctions Air. 
Loel) carries with dignitietl modesty. His record 
in the business world has been in iiarmony with 
his record as a man, distinguished by unswer\-ing 
iritegrit)- and a masterful grasp of affairs. 



WILLIAM S. WHITE, M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

William Seymour White is a native of the first shipload (jf stone for the construction of 

Greenwood, McHenry countv, Illinois, and was Fort Moultrie, and twice circunuiavigated the 

born on the 30th of Deceniljer, 18(14. 1 '^^ ''^c- globe. His wife, w-ho still survives him, was 

urds show, and the Doctor modestly admits, that Alary Ayrhardt, of Philadelphia. . 

he descended on the maternal side from Francis William R. White, the father of the subject 

Capet (Cocjuilette), the Hugue- of this sketch, and the son of Capt. William and 

not half-brother of Louis XI\', Alary White, was born in New York City in 

King of France, who, on account 1841, and has been in mercantile pursuits all of 

of his persecutions to which that his life. He married Emily A. Cook, daughter 

sect was subjected, fled to Amer- (,f Peter and Eletta Cook, two children, William 

ica, and, changing his name to S. and Wilomene T., being the result of this 

Cocjuilette, l>ecame the progeni- union. 

tor (jf a numerous family in West- William S. White came to Chicago w ith his 

Chester countv. New York, and i)arents in 1805. He received his education in 




later removed with 
count\-. New ^ 01k. 



his family to Rockland 
Mis descendants, Willi;im 



the public schools of Chicagi>. His first work 
was in the grocery store of John A. Tolman & 



Coquilette, the great-grandfather of the suljject Co., where he remained a year. 1 Ic later entered 
of this sketch, die<l in Rockland munly, New the eniploymeiU of 1). S. Alunger & Co. as office 
York, at an early age. Alaria (Garri.son) Coqui- lioy, and in three years worked his way up to the 
Ittte, his wife, died at the age of eighty-eight position of cashier. In 1884 he entered the Chi- 
ycars. I'eter Cook, Dr. White's niaternal grand- cago Homeopathic Medical College. At that 
father, a native of New York and a descendant time the ccjursc retpiiretl only two years, but he 
of the Knickerbockers, married l'"lelta, daughter attended three years, and during the season of 
of William and Alaria Coquilette. 1886-87 demonstrated anatomy to the class of 
C;i]it. William White, the paternal grand- which he w-as a member, and also a part of that 
father of Dr. White, was born in the city of time to the senior class. He graduated in 1888. 
Gottenliurg, Sweden, in 1813, ;nid at an early Following his graduation, he was successful in 
age Ijecame a sailiM". In his voyages Captain winnirig honors in a competitive examination. 
White carried troops to Alexico w-hile the United and- during the years of 1888 and 1889 was in- 
states was at war with that country, transported tcrne in the Cook County Hospital for eighteen 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



23 



months. Subsequently lie was called to Roches- 
ter, New York, whei'e he opened and put in 
practical operaticin the Rochester Homeopathic 
Hospital. 

Returning to Chicago, Dr. While entered 
into the general practice of medicine and derma- 
tology, in which he has since been engaged, with 
office at No. 70 State Street. In the fall of 1889 
he received the appointment of Demonstrator of 
Anatom)' in the Chicago. Homeopathic College. 
In 1890 he was made clinical assistant in the de- 
partment of Demiatology, and in 1893 was ap- 
pointed Adjunct Professor of Physiology in the 
same institution. In January, 1893, he received 
the apjjointment of Dermatologist in the Homeo- 
pathic Department of the Cook County Hos- 
pital. He is a member of the Illinois Homeo- 
pathic Medical Association and of the American 
Institute of Homeopathy, Homeopathic Medical 



Society of Chicago, Society of Clinical Research 
of Cook County Hospital, Association of Mili- 
tary Surgeons of the United States and Associ- 
ation of Militar\' Surgeons of Illinois. He also 
holds meniljerslii]) in fraternal organizaticjns, 
being medical examiner in the Improved Order 
of Heptasophs and assistant surgeon to First 
Regiment, I. N. G. 

On the 5th of October, 1892, Dr. White was 
united in marriage with Miss Isabelle Stone, of 
Charlotte, Verm<jnt, daughter of Luther D. and 
Phoebe (Rogers) Stone. 

At the present time Dr. White is Professor 
of Cutaneous and Venereal Diseases in the Chi- 
cago Homeopathic Medical College, Attending 
Dermatologist to the Cliicagoi Homeopathic Hos- 
pital and Cook County Hospital and Consulting 
Dermatologist to the Half Orphan Asylum of 
Chicago. 



GENERAL JOSEPH B. LEAKE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Joseph B. Leake has made a strong im- arm\' as captain of Company G, Twentieth Iowa 

pression on the public life of Chicago. As an ad- Infantry. He was) nxade lieutenant-colonel of 

vocate, he stands pre-eminently high, and the same regiment in Sq>tember, 1862. On 

through his thirty years of i)ractice in Chicago, March 13, 1865, breveted colonel and brevet 

is recogniized as one of the most able lawyers brigadier general United States Volunteers, and 

at the bar. was mustered out in July, 1865. He served in 

Josqih B. Leake is a native of New Jersey the armies of the {'"nnitier, Tennessee and Gulf. 

and was born in Cumberland conntw that state, General Leake was a member of the house of 

/\pril I, 1828. He is a son of Louis and Lydia representatives of Iowa in Jul_\-, i8()i, and of the 

(Parvinj Leake. He was educated at the schools senate in January, i8()2. He resigned to enter 

in his home county, supplemented by a course at the army. When he was mustered out he re- 

the Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, where he turned to Davenjxjrt, Iowa, and resumed the prac- 

graduated with the class of 1846. Later he tice of his profession. He was re-elected to the 

studied law in the office of Groeslwck & Telford, Iowa senate in the fall of 1865 and resigned in 



of Cincinnati, Ohio, and was admitted to the 1)ar 
in that city January 16, 1830. He practiced law 
in Cincinnati in partnershi]) with Judge John B. 
Stalloi until November, uS^C), when he nin\ed to 
Davenport, Iowa, where he practiced luitil .\n- 



1867. He was president of the board of edu- 
cation of the city of Davenport from 1868 to 
1 87 1, and was attorney for Scott county, Iowa, 
from the fall of 1865 to .\o\-eml)er. 1871, when 
he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he has since 



gust. 1862, when he enlistee 



and 



entered the resided and carried on the practice of law. He 



24 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



was United States District Attorney of Nortliern 
District of Illinois from September, 1879, to 
February, 1884, ^'id li^s served as attorney of 
the board of education of Chicago, Illinois, from 
October, 1887, to Augn.ist, 1891. 

General Leake is a member of the Chicago 
Union League, Chicago Literary Club, Chicago 
Athletic Association, Military Order of Loyal 
Legion, U. S. Grant Post, G. A. R., Marquette 



Club and Gennania Maennerchor. lie is a 
stanch Republican in politics and a memlier of 
New England Congregational church of Chicago. 
After a life of half a century, honored by the 
faithful performance of high trusts, he performs 
every dut}- al)ly rmd with an lii>nest purpose. 

General Leake was married, November, 
1865, to Miss Mary P. Hill, of Boston, Massa- 
chusetts. 



HENRY J. WILLING 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Henry J. Willing was born in Westfield, Cha- 
tauqua county, New York, July 10, 1836, and is 
9, son of Samuel and Mary Jane (Mayborne) 
Willing, whose hoine was near Jamestown, New 
^urk. The Mayborne family is of Huguenot 
origin and was established in England by those 
wlio fled from France the latter part of the sev- 
enteenth century to escape persecutions by the 
Catholics. In 1843 ^^^'- Willing's father died, 
and three years later the family moved to Chi- 
cago, making the journey from Buffalo by 
steamer. The \x>y then was about ten years of 
age. A few years later he began liis struggle 
for recognition in the business world by obtain- 
ing employment with U. P. Harris. After a num- 
ber of changes during the succeeding three years, 
he settled down in 1851 to a permanent position 
in the dry goods house of Thomas B. Carter & 
Company, with wliom be remained for eight 
years. In 1859 Mr. Willing joined the forces of 
Cooley, Farwell & Company, where he occupied 
a good position until 18^15, when he became con- 
nected with Field, Leiter & Company and was 
soon afterward admitted to the firm. In 1883 
Mr. Willing sold out his interest in the firm, then 
Marsliall I'"ield & Company, and retired from 
Inisiness. 

In many ways tending to secure good govern- 
ment for Chicago, and to uphold the cause of law. 



order, humanity and religion, Mr. Willing has 
been a foremost worker. Although having large 
and varied financial interests to look after, he 
has nevertheless found time to foster and encour- 
age public enterprises which have tended to ad- 
vance the material and spiritual welfare of the 
people. In religious faith he is a Presbyterian 
and has served as an elder in the church since 
1868. He has been vice-president of the Young 
Men's Christian Association, was a trustee in 
the McCormich Tlieological Seminary (when it 
was known as the Northwestern Thetilogical 
Seminary), and has in inan_\- ways shnwn an ac- 
tive interest in religious work. 

Mr. Willing is an energetic, ()utsp<.)ken man 
of high moral principle and deq> religious con- 
viction. He has always l>een generous in his 
gifts to religious, moral and civil enterprises, and 
his advice is often sought, not alone because he 
has been a successful business man, but as that 
of a sympathizer with young men wlio' are trying 
to work their way upward, and it is always given 
in a manner that shows that he is keenly alive to 
all that concerns the welfare and advancement of 
his fellowmen. 

Politically Mr. Willing is a Republican, bnt 
while he takes an active part in pulitical afi^airs as 
a citizen whose duty it is to secure good govern- 
ment, he has always refused to' accept public office 




I^Century PLiIjliahin^ &£jigravi]\gCaChicagc 






PRO:\lI.\KXT ^lEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



27 



with one sole exceptii m, this being his nun- 
imrtisan election as a meniljer of the Drainage 
Board. 

In the hard work of organizing- the Board of 
Trnstees of the Sanitary District of Chicago, none 
of the nine gentlemen chosen took a more active 
part than did Mr. Willing. lie accepted the trus- 
teeship under pressure from his friends without 
reference to political ties, feeling reluctant to enter 
upon a task of such magnitude at a time w h.cii 
worn oiU by business cares and needing rest and 
recreation. Once enlisted in the enterprise, how- 
ever, Mr. Willing became euthusiastic in his ef- 
forts to secure the consummation of the great 
project, and he was an intelligent and energetic 
member of the board. He served for two rears 
and then was compelled to retire because of ill 
health. 

While not what is termed a club man, still Air 
Willing is a member of the Chicago, the Union 
and the Union League clubs. He is a member of 
the Board of Directors of the Chicago Home for 
Incurables, while the work of the Citizen League 
alwavs commands his moral as well as his finan- 



cial support, and many of the reforms secured 
by that lx>dy owe much to him. Mr. Willing is 
aiso interested in the encouraugement of art and 
served three years as a director of the Art Insti- 
tute. In all historical matter and those especially 
of Chicago and the L'nitcd States, he is well 
versed. He is a member of the Chicago Histori- 
cal Society, the y\merican Historical Society and 
of the Chicago branch of the Archaeological So- 
ciety of America. He is also trustee of the New- 
berry Library. 

Mr. Willing is a man of scholarly tastes and 
studious habits and wdiile at home spends many 
hours with his favorite authors, while his kindly 
impulses and charming cordialit)- of manner ren- 
der him exceedingly popular among his many 
friends. At the same time, it may be said that 
Mr. Willing is a great traveler, having been 
raau)' times abroad, besides having visited all of 
tlie noted places and resorts of his own country. 

In 1870 Mr. Willing married Frances Skin- 
ner, second daughter of the late Judge Mark Skin- 
ner. They have two children, Evelyn Pierrepont . 
and Alark Skinner Willing. 



P. H. RICE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



P. H. Rice was born in County \\'exford, 
near the city of Dublin, September 9, 1847. 
He is the son of W. R. Rice, who married Miss 
Mary Furlong. As is the case with many suc- 
cessful men, the influence of heredity is discern- 
ible clearly in the business career of Mr. P. H. 
Rice : his father was an adept in the trade of 
which he himself has proved to be a master. 
When P. H. Rice was but three years of age his 
parents emigrated to this country and settled at 
Belvidere. In the puljlic schools of this lillle 
city, and afterward in the famous Lhiiversity of 
Notre Dame, Indiana, Mr. Rice received his 
scholastic education. The larger and higher edu- 



cation, that has given him the mastery over busi- 
ness affairs, was gained in the university of the 
world. 

Fie is a typical and thorough-going Chi- 
cagoan, having resided here over thirty-five years. 
Mr. Rice started in the malting and distilling 
business at Elgin, Illinois, in 1868. In 1876 he 
bought out the Chicago Alcohol \\'orks. About 
ten years ago he built the largest malt plant in the 
west at Cragin, Illinois. He sold this plant 
abyout six years later, and now has just completed 
the largest malting plant in the United States, 
on twenty acres, at the junction of the St. Paul, 
Chicago & Northwestern Raihvav and minor 



PROJillXEXT :\IEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



lielt lines. Mr. Rice is deservedly prmid of this. 
his latest venture in the malting business, as he 
now stands pre-eminent as a leader of leaders in 
the malting' world. Mr. Rice also' owns, and is 
president of the Star Brewery. He has done his 
sliare toward building up the great Garden City 
of the west, and' this fact alone has given him 
the right to stand in the front rank of the most 
solid commercial men of the day. P. H. Rice 
was one of the first men to advocate the construc- 
tion of elevated roads in Chicagi). He started 
the Lake Street "L" and was president of the 
road eight years. Mr. Rice is one of the most 
aggressive, energetic and enterprising business 
men in Chicago. He has amassed a competency 
by diligent labor, and to-day is one of the most 
solid of all Chicago's large property-owners. He 
is generous to a fault, and has done his share of 



charitable work, looking after orphan boys, and 
was largely instrumental in establishing the Fee- 
hanville Training School for Boys. Mr. Rice has 
for the past few years resided on the South Side. 
He is, however, one of the largest property- 
owners on the West Side, and has always done 
much to promote the prosperity uf that section of 
the city. 

In piilitics Mr. Rice is a Democrat, though he 
supported AlcKinley's financial, policy, ^^'hile an 
active worker in the party, ]\Ir. Rice steadily has 
refused to hold office. He is emphatically a home 
man, and his name is in the roster of very few 
clubs. 

Mr. Rice was married in July. 1878, to Mary 
J. Walsh, daughter of John B. Walsh, of Chi- 
cago. Six children add to the domestic gaiety 
of the family mansion. No. 3312 Wabash avenue. 



JOSEPH E. OTIS, Jr. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



!\Ir. Joseph E. Otis, Jr., senior meml>er of 
the firm of Otis, Wilcox & Company, stock brok- 
ers, is a young man who has gained cpiite a name 
in linancial circles in Chicago' within the last sev- 
eral years. The family from which INIr. Otis 
sprang has long been considered 
as one of the prominent ones of 
this section of the state, of which 
j\Ir. Otis is a native, having been 
1)t>rn in Chicago on March 5, 
1S57, lieing a son of Joseph E. 
and Maria (Taylor) Otis, early 
, pioneer residents of Chicago, and 
a grandson of Joseph and Nancy 
(Billings) Otis. Mr. Otis' edu- 
cation was received at the Howard school, of 
Chicago, and later at the Phillips Exeter Acad- 
emy at Andover, Massachusetts, and finished at 
Yale University. He left the latter institution 




in the spring of 1889 and went abroad. On his 
return from Europe he became engaged in the 
real-estate business as a member of the firm of 
Joseph R. Putnian & Company, but in 1891 he 
returned in order to take charge of his father's 
business in Chicago. Three years later he as- 
sisted in organizing the Great Western Tin Plate 
Company, of which he became president. A 
four-mill plant was erected at Juliet, Illinois, and 
operatetl until the fall of 1898, when the conr- 
pany was absorbed by the consolidation known 
as the American Tin Plate Company. 

January i, 1899, the present firm of Otis, 
Wilcox & Company was organized, Mr. Otis be- 
ing associated with Charles H. Wilcox, his 
former partner in the Great Western Tin Plate 
Company. Charles H. \\'ilcox retired January 
15, 1901, and was succeeded by Walter H. Wil- 
son. The members of the firm now are Josqih 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



29 



E. Otis, Ji"., Walter H. Wilson, Heiiry W. Buck- 
ingham and Ralph C. Otis. They are pioneers 
in handling foreign bonds in the west, and are 
large underwriters of the Alexican External 
Loan and of all the recait foreign loans. Their 
offices are in the Temple Building. La Salle and 
Monroe Streets. They operate branch oiifices, 
one in Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Otis is a member of 
the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago 
Stock Exchange, and is a member of the financial 
and law governing committee of the latter body. 



In piilitics Mr. Otis is a Republican, and in 
national affairs has sujiported this party since he 
cast his first vote. He is one of those who desire 
no office for themselves, but works always for 
the good of his party, in whose councils he stands 
bigh. 

Mr. Otis is a valued member of many clubs 
and social organizations, and' is especially identi- 
fied with the University, Chicago and Calumet 
Clubs of this city. He is also a member of the 
Chicago Real Estate Board. 



CHESTER M. DAWES 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Chester M. Dawes, general solicitor of the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Com- 
pany, isi one of the best-known and highly-gifted 
lawyers oi Chicag;0. He is the son of the Hon- 
orable Henry Lawrens Dawes and Electa San- 
derson Dawes. His father, Henry Lawrens 
Dawes, was born at Cummington, Massachusetts, 
October 30, 1816. He was a graduate from 
Yale College in 1S39. He was a teacher for a 
short time and then edited a paper at Greenfield, 
Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar in 
1842. He began the practice of his profession 
at North Adams, where he also conducted' the 
Transcript. He was a member of the Massa- 
chusetts State Legislature in 1848-9 and in 185 J, 
and of the State Senate in 1850. He was a dele- 
gate tO' the State Constitutional Convention in 
1853, and was attorney for the Western Dis- 
trict of Massachusetts from 1833 to 1857. He 
served as a member of Congress from 1857 to 
1873. and took a prominent part in the anti- 
slavery legislation during and subsequent to> the 
Rebellion. He was elected to the United States 
Senate in 1875 as a successor of Hunnrable 
Charles Sumner, and was re-elected in 1881 and 
1887. During his long legislative career he took 
an important part in much of the legislation that 



is now historical. He was the author of many 
tariff measures, particularly in; relation tO' wool 
and woolen goods, in 1868, which was the basis 
of all wool and woolen tariff' until 1883. He in- 
augurated the measure by which the completion 
of the Washington monument was undertaken. 
He founded the system of daily weather reports 
in 1869, at the suggestion of Professor Cleveland 
Abbe, and established the first bureau. He was 
the author of the Severalty bill, the Sioux bill 
and the bill for making the Indians subject to and 
protected by our criminal laws, and as chairman 
of the Indian committee, spent much time ad- 
justing affairs with the Indian reservations, 
creating the entire system of Indian educa- 
tion, as well as much other legislation for their 
benefit. 

Electa Sanderson Dawes, his wife, was born 
in Ashfield, Massachusetts ; they had three chil- 
dren. Henry L. Dawes, Jr., and Chester M. 
Dawes are successful lawyers, one in ]\Iassa- 
chusetts and the other in Chicago, and a daugh- 
ter, Anna Laurens Dawes, who is well known as 
a writer on political topics. 

Chester M. Dawes was born at North Ad- 
ams, Massachusetts, in 1856, attended the com- 
mon schools and academies near his home and 



30 



PROMINENT ?vIEX OF THE GREAT \\EST 



finished his classical educaticm at Yale, gradu- 
ating in 1876. He was admitted to thj bar the 
same year and at once entered upon the practice 
of his profession in Chicago, entering into part- 
nership with F. S. Winston, under the finn name 
of Winston & Dawes. This firm won great suc- 
cess and continued in existence until 1883, when 
Mr. Dawes was appointed assistant United 
States attorney, a position which he filled for 



three years with great success. In 1886 he was 
made attorney for' the Chicago. Burlington & 
Ouincy Railroad Company. 

In politics Mr. Dawes is a Republican. He 
is a member oi several clubs ; among them are 
the Chicago, University and Union. 

Mr. Dawes was married in 1881 to Miss Ada 
B. Laflin, a lady of marked culture and refine- 
ment. They have a daughter. Electa S. Dawes. 



THEODORE K. LONG 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Tlieodore Kepner Lc.mg, 482^ Kinibark ave- 
nue, Chicago, was born of Pennsxhania Dutch 
parentage in Pfoutzes valle}-, near }iIilIerstown, 
Perry county, Pennsylvania, about thirty miles 
north of Harrisburg, on the 26th day of April, 
1857, on a farm. His mother, Catherine Kep- 
ner, was of Dutch origin. Through his father, 
Abrahami Long, Jr., he is descended from the 
race of sturdy freeholder ]\Iennonites who settled 
extensively in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, 
several generations Isefore the American Revolu- 
tion. The buildings of his earliest American an- 
cestor, Isaac Long, are still standing in good re- 
pair, and have become historical owing to a great 
meeting, "Grosse Versammlung," held there in 
1767 for the organization of the United Brethren 
church, with which organization Isaac Long was 
prominen^tly identified. The building in which 
this meeting was held was used as a storehouse 
and barn and is described by Dr. Drury, in his 
"Life of Otterbein," as "Iniilt of stone, 108 feet 
long and of corresponding width." The dwell- 
ing-house is a large old-fashioned colonial struc- 
ture. Both buildings were erected by Isaac Long 
about 1754. In Berger's "History of the United 
Brethren Church," the author, writing of these 
buildings, says : "The masonry is of a high 
order. The thatched roof of early times has given 
way long since to a better covering. They are 



located on a Ijeautiful farm si.x miles niirtheast 
of the city of Lancaster." 

Isaac Long's son David, the great-grandfather 
of the subject of this sketch, was educated for the 
ministry, and in 181 1 migrated from Lancaster 
count}- north to the more sparsely settled lands 
of Cumberland county along the Juniata river, 
from which lands Perry county was afterward 
formed. Here he established a church and a farm 
of over one thousand acres, which latter was 
;ifterward divided among his descendants, the 
mansion portion of it descending tO' his oldest 
son, Abr;ihani, and later to Abraham's son, 
Abraham, Jr., the latter being the father of 
Theodore, the subject of this sketch. 

The early life of Theodore was spent on his 
father's farm, and at the age of fifteen he taught 
the district school in his native place and began 
to lay the foundation for an education by attend- 
ing school in summer time and teaching in win- 
ter to earn monev to pav the expense of his 
schooling. This plan was studiously followed for 
upward of four years, when in his nineteenth 
year he was registered as a law student in the 
ofifice of William A. Sponsler, Esq., at New 
Bloomfield, Pennsyh-ania, where he servetl an 
apprenticeship of twO' years in Blackstone and 
common law precedents, after which he entered 
Yale College as a student in the Law Depart- 




^^ /-^C^ ^r-r Ua^ 



O-i 




C-L^ 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



33 



nient. and, in addition to the ret^'ular law course, 
took a special course in political economy, tmder 
Professor William G. Sumner, and in modern 
languages under Professor William D. Whitney, 
and in English literature and rhetoric under Pro- 
fessor C}rus Northrop, who^ afterward l)ecame 
president of the University of Minnesota. 

I\lr. Long- was graduated in 1878, and im- 
mediately entered the law office of the attorneys 
for the Penns}l\ania Raih'oad at ] larrislnu'g, 
where he remained several years as an assistant, 
during which time he became interested' in jour- 
nalism. In 1881 he recei\-ed an appointment un- 
der the Secretary of Wiw. and removed to Wash- 
in.gton, D. C.. where he represented several news- 
papers as Washington correspondent. 

With a view of broadening his field of labor 
and engag-ing in the practice of the law, he re- 
moved to the great northwest in 1883. He took 
with him letters of introduction to Governor 
Alexander Ramsey, of St. Paul, Minnesota, upon 
whose advice he went to Dakota Territory, and 
located at Mandan, the headciuarters of the 
Northern Pacific Railroad Company, on the west 
bank of the Missouri river. Bismarck being sit- 
uated on the east bank. He bought an interest 
in the Mandan Daily Pioneer and became its 
editor. His editorials drew forth favorable no- 
tice from the Dakota and Minnesota press. He 
took an acti\'e part in politics and jnurnalisni and 
wrote and [jublished. under the authority of the 
territorial legislature, a parliamentary guide en- 
titled "Long's Legislative Hand Book." 

In the fall of 1884 Mr. Long was elected 
district attorney for the family of counties west 
of the Missouri river and north of the 4f)th paral- 
lel. He was the first prosecuting attorney elected 
in this district, which at that time had a popula- 
tion probalily more cosmopolitan than anv similar 
area in the Lniited States. Within this district 
was the ranch of the eccentric French ni)blcman, 
the iMarcpiis de Mores, who was tried fnr mur- 
der in Dakota and afterward lost his life in the 



Sondan : and here, too, was the ranch of Theo- 
dore Rotjsevelt, for whom ]\Ir. Long prose- 
cuted and convicted a band of highwaymen who 
made a predatory incursion into the former's 
ranch. 

After the expiration of his term as district 
attorney he removed to Bismarck, where he be- 
came the attorney for the Northern Pacific Rail- 
road and other corporate interests. Realizing 
that the extreme west was destined to suffer from 
a long period of depression and that it would be 
a mistake to remain permanently in Bismarck, he 
returned east as far as ^linneapolis, where, in 
company with two associates, he promoted and 
organized the Evening Star, the name of which 
was afterward changed to the Evening Tribune. 
He became the paper's managing editor and con- 
tinued in that capacity until he sold ont his inter- 
est in the paper, whereupon he came to Chicago 
after the World's Fair, and has ever since re- 
sided here, engaged in the practice of law. 

During his residence in Chicago IMr. Long 
has devoted himself exclusively to the practice 
of the law of life insurance and corporations. 
Fie is general counsel of the Illinois Life In- 
surance Company, an institution with which he 
has been closely identified since 1894. He is a 
member and director of the Hamilton Cluii, and 
a member of the LTnion League Club and the 
Midlothian Country Club. He is a blue lodge 
Mason, a ivnight Templar, a member of Medina 
Temple Shrine of Chicago, and an active mem- 
ber of the Thirty-second Ward Republican Club. 
He has always taken a deep interest in educa- 
tional matters, and 1 iccupies the chair of medical 
jurisprudence in the National Medical l_*niversity 
and Hospital, where he lectures weekly to the 
students of that institution. He is also professor 
of insurance law in the John Marshall Law- 
School of Chicago. 

His family has furnished a number of names 
prominent in public affairs, among them being 
Henry G. Long, for many years presiding judge 



34 



PROMIXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



of the Lancaster. Pennsylvania, district, who 
presented Lancaster city with a beautiful park, 
which bears his name, and established an asylum 
for women at a cost of over a half a million dol- 
lars; Christian Long, formerly president of the 
Somerset & Cambria Railroad Company, which 
was after his death consolidated with the Balti- 
more & Ohio; Charles D. Long, for many years 
a judge of the Supreme Court of Michigan; and 



Chester L Long, the present (1902) representa- 
tive in Congress from the \\'ichita, Kansas, dis- 
trict. 

Mr. Long was married in 1885, at Eau Claire, 
Wisconsin, to Miss Kate Carson, of that place, 
and both he and his wife are members of the 
Episcopal church, of which he is also a vestry- 
man. They have one son, \\'illiam Carson Long, 
sixteen years of age. 



WILLIAM VOCKE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

\\'illiam \'ocke, whO' is a man of broad liter- ftssor Henry Booth, who, noting the ambition, 

ary culture and i)rominence among the German- willingness and talent of Mr. \'ocke, offered to 

American representatives of the Chicago bar, has instruct him and allow him to< use his books, per- 

successfully engaged in practice in the western mitting him to repay him at some future period, 

metropolis for more than thirty years. He was The day on which he was eventually enabled to 

born in Minden, Westphalia, pay his kind friend in full was one of the priiud- 

Germany, in 1839, His father, est and happiest days of his life, 

who was a government secretary In i860 Mr. Vocke left the Staats Zeitung 

in the Prussian service, died dur- and accepted the position of collector for Ogden, 

ing the early youth of his son Fleetwood & Company, then a leading real-estate 

^^'illiam. and when only se\enteen firm of the city. In Ai>ril, 1861, feeling that his 

years of age the latter resolved to adopted country needed his services at the front, 

try his fortune in America. he responded to the call of duty and joined the 

He sailed in 1856, and after Union army with a three-months regiment. His 

,1 short time spent in X'ew York company was soon attached to the Twenty- fourth 

made his way to Chicago, where Illinois Infantry, and Mr. Vocke was present at 

he sought and obtained employment with the pub- every engagement of the Army of the Cumber- 

lisher of the Staats Zeitung, acting as carrier of land until his regiment was mustered out. His 

tlile paper. His industry and determination to loj'alty and bravery won recognition, and for his 

succeed were most commendable. He began meritorious services he was made captain of 

work at two o'clock .\. m., and did not complete Company D. 

his labors until six hours later. He spent his During his military service Captain Vocke de- 
days in studying law and gave the hours between voted all his leisure time to literary pursuits, and 
twilight and two in the morning to sleep. It was upon his return to the north became city editor 
his great desire tn perfect himself in the law and of the Staats Zeitung. where his merit as an edi- 
enter upon practice, Init the work he was enabled tnrial writer soon won him hunnred recognition 
to perform was not enough to meet his expense in journalistic circles. From Ajiril. 1865, until 
and enable li'im to pursue his studies. At this Xovember, 1869, he was clerk oi the police 
juncture, however, he found a true friend in Pro- coiu-t of Chicago, and in tlie meaiUime resumed 




PROMINENT .MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



35 



the study uf law and was admitted to tlie liar 
in iSf)/. He had also matle fretjutnit cmitrihu- 
tions to both the German and English press, and 
gained a high reputation as an able and polished 
writer. In 1869 he produced a volume of poems, 
excellent translations of the lyrics of Julius Rod- 
enburg. 

After retiring from the clerkship of the po- 
lice court he devoted his energies to the practice 
of law, and stands to-day without a peer among 
the German-American lawyers of Chicago. His 
clientage has always been extensive and the legal 
interests entrusted to his care of a \-ery important 
character. He has a thorough understanding of 
the law as a science, and is peculiarly talented in 
the presentation of a cause to judge or jury and in 
the preparation of briefs and arguments. Of late 
years his writings ha\'e been more in the line of 
the law than on general literary topics, and one 
of his most able productions is a volume entitled 
"The Administration of Justice in the United 
States, and a Synojisis of the Mode of Procedure 
of our Federal and State Courts and all Federal 
and State Laws Relating to Subjects of Interest 
to Aliens." which was published in the German 
language at Cologne, and has not only received 
the praise of German jurists but has also proven 
of much benefit tO' German lawyers and business 
men. 



Mr. \'(icke was elected to the state legisla- 
ture in 1870. While a memljer of the Imuse he 
was instrumental in framing, at the extra session 
held shortly after the great fire of 1871, what is 
known as the "burnt-record" act ; and among his 
other noteworthy achievements he formulated 
and introduced a life-insurance bill, wliich at the 
time was endorsed Ij}- the edit(jr of the Chicago 
Tribune as "the soundest and most judicious 
measure ever proposed to a legislati\e body on 
that subject." 

Jn the affairs of the city Mr. \'ocke has ever 
taken a deep interest, withholding his support 
from no measure which he belie\ed would' prove 
of public benefit. He served as a member of the 
board of education from 1877 until 1880, and 
the public-school system found in him a warm 
friend. For a number of vears past he has been 
attorney for the imperial German consulate at 
Chicago, and among other offices of honor he 
has held the presidency of the German Society of 
Chicago for the Aid of Emigrants. He is a 
man of scholarly attainments, of broad general 
information and ripe classical knowledge, and the 
study of history and the science of government 
is one of his chief sources of pleasure and recre- 
ation. 

He was married in 1867 to Miss Eliza \\"ahl, 
and the\- ha\-e two sons and four daughters. 



NEWTON FARNSWORTH GORDON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Newton F. Gordon was a son of Joseph H. 
and Lydia F. Gordon, and was born at INIethuen, 
Massachusetts, April i, 186 1. His early educa- 
tion was received in the public schools and at the 
^Methuen high school, and from there he attended 
\\'illiams College, fn.im which he graduated, and 
then attended Ann Arbor University, of Michi- 
gan, where he studied law. He came to Chicago 
in 1886, entering the law office of Cratty Brothers 



& Aldrich. and was admitted to the bar in 18S9, 
but continued in the office of the above named 
firm until 1891, when he formed a partnership 
with Mr. E. M. Ashcraft, the firm being known 
as .\shcraft & Gordon, which partnership contin-> 
ued until his death, which occurred Octolier 19, 
1900. In religious matters Mr. Gordon was a 
ETniversalist. Politically he was a Gold Demo- 
crat. Mr. Gordon was looked upon as one of the 



36 PROMIXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 

coming great lawxcrs (if the Illinois Ijar. His t(.) Miss Alary Kongh. The result of this union 
d'eath was a great slu.ick to his many friends, cut- was two daughters, Dorothy and Ruth, who re- 
ting short, as it did. a bright and jiromising career, side with their mother at their Imme at Glen 
He was united in marriage January 3. 1893. Ellyn. Illinois. 



HARRY SCULL 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

"And now, please, point me out Harry Scull," Gal way, the chief city of western Ireland. His 

is a request often lieard in the gallery of the Chi- name indexes the athletic taste which he has in- 

cago Board of Trade, as visitors gaze down on herited from Xorman and Saxon ancestors ; the 

the seeming pandemonium of the pits and see in original Sculls ublained their cognomen from 

bewildered motion the human machinery of the their canoeing exploits and their present descend- 

greatest mart of trade in the world. ant has displa3-ed his inherited athletic skill in 

The request is a natural one, for Air. Scull has that line in mar.y a spirited regatta in Bristol 

long been one of the most interesting institution^. waters. The family love of manly exercise has 

so to s])eak, on "Change. Deprixe the place of hi^ Ijeen carried down through nianv centuries. Mr. 

tmiciuc, pleasant and piquant personality and Scull's father, a venerable gentleman of nigh 

there would at once be a notable void, a dull gaj) eighty, thinks nothing of doing his four or five 

in the brotherhood nf traders that nobody else miles a day through the familiar streets of Bris- 

could acceptalily fill. tol. Air. Scull himself, with his three-pound cane. 

To the incpiiring ol)server a gentleman of elastic stride and strong powers of physical en- 
slender but \-ignr(ius frame will be pointed out, durance, has long been a well-known figure on the 
attired almost invariably in a neat suit of gray, l)oule\ards of the Chicago South Side. His 
a man florid of face and iron-gray hair and friends say he would rather walk than eat. and 
whiskers, genial, alert, ubiquitous, combining the to this exercise he attributes his excellent consti- 
training and instincts of the trader with a large tutinn. He is the champiim ]:)edestrian nf tlie 
fund of ever-present and indnmitable good Board of Trade — and probably of any other 
humor. There have been potentates galore on board in Chicago. 

the Board. Corn Kings and Wheat Kings of Having commenced his education at Weston, 

years and even seasons, commercial comets ap- Bath, Air. Scull finished his studies under the 

pearing and disappearing in swift, short order; celeljrated educator. Dr. Stone, of Stokes Croft, 

but during nigh three decades on the noisy floor Bristol. He sailed from England Sept. i, 1873, 

of 'Change. Harry Scull has always maintained and settled in Strathroy, Ont., where he spent 

his character anrl reputation as an acknowledged eighteen months in the business of exporting to 

Prince of Good Fellows. Alaster of his business, the old country the products of the Dominion, 

lie is also generous, cheerful and cnurtenus. Then, equipped with letters of intrmluctinn to the 

Air. Scull is a native of England. In 1845 he late J. Y. ScamuKin. founder of the Inter-Ocean, 

was born in the ancient and historic city of Bris- and the recent Secretary of the U. S. Treasury, 

tol. which in Columbian days sent forth Sebas- Lyman J. Gage, he came to Chicago^ and soon 

tian Cabot for the discovery of Canada and pre- found himself in the whirl of the Board of Trade, 

viously the famed fourteen "tribes" that founded where he has e\'er since, a bold anil jolly m.ariner. 





e"^. ..^^ 



/ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



39 



been successfully braviug- the eddies, uuder both 
the sign of the Bull and the constellation of the 
Bear. He found a warm and practical friend in 
Mr. Alurray Nelson, with whose family he ate his 
lirst Thauksg-iving- dinner, and in whose office 
be obtained a good position. 

About this time Mr. Scull made the acquaint- 
ance of a beautiful and talented young Irish lady, 
descendant of a famous old Meathian sept whose 
meniljers combined the strength of the lion on 
their sliicKl with the quickness of the greyhound 
on their crest, and w'ho always lived up to their 
motto, "Semper patriae servire presto." One 
Macgeogbegan was onh' prevented by the stroke 
of death from blowing the castle of Dunboy into 
tlie air rather than surrender it to the English ; the 
Abbe Macgeoghegan was chaplain of the Irish 
Brigade in the service of France and author of a 
celebrated history of Ireland ; Kedagh Geoghegan 
shot down with his own hand his four splendid 
carriage horses rather than surrender them to> a 
scoundrel who claimed them for £5, or $25 
apiece — an Irish Catholic not being supposed un- 
der the law to own a ho-rse of more than that 
value in the penal days. To this spirited sept be- 
Icng Miss Bessie Arabella Geoghegan, daughter 
of Mr. Charles W. Geoghegan, of Dublin, who 
served as civil engineer and surveyor under Sir 
Richard Griffiths, the celebrated valuator of Irish 
soil. Miss Geoghegan, an intense Irish national- 
ist, deplored the spoliation to which her native 
land was subjected by the English and would be 
glad to see all the redcoats driven into Dublin 
Bay, as Brian Boru drove the Danes. Mr. Scull, 
a stalwart British imperialist, l>elieYed that the 
union jack was the palladium of progress and 
hung in his office the effigy of the British lion. 
However, love laughs at such differences and a 
candid agreeiuent to disagree in politics resulted 
in a Iiai)pY union of hearts and hands. The mar- 
riage was celebrated on June 7, 1876. Of four 
children they were sadly bereaved of three. The 
survivor. Miss Ethel jMarie Featherston-Haugh 
3 



Scull, a very beautiful and accomplished young 
woman, was married April 26, 1898, to Mr. Pros- 
per Dalien Fenn, son of the late celebrated editor 
and abolitionist of that name, \vho was a bosom 
friend of Horace Greeley. Thus converges three 
founts O'f excellent blood, such as might well pro- 
duce the best type of American citizenship. 

In 1879 Mr. Scull accq>ted a position as 
trader and foreign correspondent for the well- 
known old firm of W. P. McLaren & Co. When 
thi: "-m went out of business in 1880 he became 
connected with Dwight & Gillett. Outside the 
firm's business he had private orders from capi- 
talists and was frequent'y given "carte blanche" 
in large wheat deals, freelv exercising his own 
judgment in selling or buyiu. ; in the interests of 
his clients. He is now activer, engaged in the 
cominissioii an J brokerage business for himself, 
wnth able assistance and a large and app -^ciative 



clientage. 



While taking a hearty and hopeful interest in 
the progress of this great republic and cordially 
respecting Mrs. Scull's feelings on the "ondition 
and treatment of Ireland, Mr. Scull retain„ lena- 
cious loyalty to his native land, as was shown at 
the beginning of the Boer war by the following 
letter to Capt. W. Wyndham, her Britannic maj- 
esty's representative in Chicago : 

My Dear Wyndham— Enclosed letters of love and grati- 
tude show righteousness of our cause, for England, God bless 
her, is always on the side of humanity and justice. I hasten 
with all Victoria's loyal sons to tender her through you my 
small services and wait her most gracious commands. 

For God, my Queen and my country, I am always, 

Harry Scull. 

From his strenuous views on this subject his 
associates on the Board dubbed him "the Queen's 
Own," and at the opening of the Boer war they 
facetiously bombarded him with such bogus tele- 
gratus, purporting to come from the British war 
office, as "Chief military reserves called in; 
Harry Scull, come home immediately and rexx)rt 
for duty," all of which he bore with unfailing 
good humor, enjoying the joke as heartily as they. 
Meantime he took deep interest in the progress of 



40 



PROMINENT :\IEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



the war and his office in the Rialto building lie- 
came a picture gallery of British generals. 

A model of pleasant urbanity he has done 
more than any other man of his nationality in 
Chicago to reduce the impression of so-called 
John Bull grumpincss and insular prejudice, for, 
with all his admiration of the old land, he is a 
broad and breezy cosmopolitan. By birth an 
Episcopalian, the earth is his temple, tO' do good 
his religion. Impulsive as he is generous, he is 
intolerant of shams and humbugs, especially 
when they come in the guise of English ''social 
reformers." At a meeting of the Sunset Club he 
denounced Stead to his face as a fraud, and John 
Burns and Keir Hardie also experienced his ire 
on their visits to this city. On the other hand he 
is ever jubilantly foremost in welcoming a "good 
fellow." He vehemently led the cheering on the 
occasion of the visit to the lioard of his wife's 
countryman. Lord Beresford, and following the 
rounds of applause for that naval hero he person- 
ally started three cheers for President McKinley, 
Queen \'ictoria and Admiral Dewey, after which 
Harrv himself became the hero of the occasion 



and was enthusiastically chaired round the hall 
by his shouting fellow brokers. 

With an intelligent interest and foresight in 
American domestic affairs it was Mr. Scull who, 
at a banquet of the Sunset Club, in the presence 
of General Miles and Colonel Turner, first drew 
forcible attention to the necessity in America of 
a standing army commensurate with the popula- 
tion, not only for the purpose of maintaining or- 
aer in the cities, rapidly being filled with emi- 
grants from the effete kingdoms of the Old 
World, but for preserving the unity and strength- 
ening the power of the republic. The increase of 
the army of Uncle Sam from 13,000 to 100,000 
has since verified Mr. Scull's warning and pre- 
diction. 

In fine, combining sterling business integrity 
and ability with a kindly and courteous manner 
and a practical desire to extract the most good 
from existence, genial Harry Scull enjovs in his 
own characteristic manner the well earred sweets 
of success, and delights to make pleasant s-ui- 
shine for others along the highways and byways 
of life. 



ALFRED S. TRUDE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

In a classification of lawyers of Chicago the shipboard, while the vessel on which they made 
name uf Alfred S. Trude occupies a notable place the journey was lying in quarantine in New York 
among the citizens of that city, standing in the pert. 



first rank (.)f the distinguished members of the 
profession, and recognized by all as a man of rare 
talents and as one of the greatest criminal law- 
yers of the state of Illinois. 

Mr. Trude is of English descent and a son 
of Sanuiel and Sallie ( Downs) Trude. The lat- 
ter is of a familv well kni>wn in liritish historv. 



They settled in Lockport, New York, where 
Alfred first attended school. Subsequently he 
entered Union College, graduating at the age of 
seventeen. He moved to Chicago and entered the 
Union College of Law under the Hon. Henry 
Booth, at the same time studying under the 
tuition of Mr. A. B. Jenks, and was admitted to 



her father having been an officer of rank in the the bar in 1871 and at once entered into the work 

British army and her brother now being in that of his profession. 

service. Mr. Trude's parents emigrated to the ]\Ir. Trudfe is a zealous worker, well read in 

United States in 1847 'i"'l Alfred was born on all points of the law, quick of perception, firm in 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



41 



action, a riuent speaker and possessed of a mag- 
netism wliicii maWcs liim one of the most snc- 
cessfnl of trial lawyers. He has conducted thirty- 
eight murder cases, thirty-six men and two wo- 
men, all of which, with a single exception, he tried 
alone, anil in all, with the exception' of three, he 
secured verdicts of acquittal. Some of these are 
the most noted cases on record. One of the more 
recent cases was that of the woinan Theresa 
Sturla, alias. Madeline Stiles, indicted for the 
murder of Charles Stiles. Mr. Trude defended 
against State's Attorney Mills, who made a vig^ 
orous attempt for her conviction with death pen- 
alty saitence. Mr. Trude accomplished almost a 
complete victory, she lieing sentenced to only one 
year in the penitentiary. Another recent one was 
the Pendergast case for the murder of Carter 
H. Harrison, Sr. Mr. Trude secured his con- 
viction. Of very recent date is the Snell will 
case, in which Mr. Trutle represented the execu- 
tors and had the will sustained. The first case of 
importance iu' which he appeared prominently be- 
fore the public was in the Linden divorce case, 
where Linden, a coachman, married the daughter 
of Mr. Hancock, a rich packer. Linden repre- 
senting himself to be a British lord while in pur- 
suit of his victim. Li this case the question of 
marriage was discussed at great length, there 
being found a misrepresentation in the induce- 
ments to marry. The validity of the marriage 
was determined by the question of cohabitation 
and decided in favor of the husband, and a di- 
vorce denied. The question was as novel as it 
was delicate and stands alone as' precedent in the 
wide domain of legal literature. 

Another was the defense of Joe Tansey, alias 
Johnson, indicted for killing Alljert Gates,— a 
well-kno'wm case. Another was the defense and 
acquittal of William Gerbick, who was charged 
with arson and murder, he having been accused 
of setting fire to a house and burning his alleged 
mistress. Another was the defense and acquittal 
of Thomas Mangaw, indicted for the killing of 



Kelly on St. Patrick's Day. Another important 
case was the defense and acquittal of McGuire, 
McGavey and O'Brien for killing three Bohem- 
ians at a dance. He first obtained permission for 
a separate trial, and by a vigorous eiifort and 
strong fight secured the acquittal of McGavey, 
and after he was out of reach of the law, and 
once in jeopardy, put him on the stand, and by 
his confession of the crime and his evidence, 
cleared the other two. Another case was the 
Catholic priest, charged with stealing three 
thousand six hundred dollars from the par- 
ish of St. Alary. Another was the defense 
and acquittal of M. C. McDonald, who was 
charged under nineteen different indictments, one 
of which was with intent to kill. Another was 
the defense and acquittal of Jim Martin, charged 
with killing St. James on Clark street. He was 
attorney for Lizzie Moore in the diamond rob- 
bery case, when ex-Chief of Police Hickey was a 
supposed accomplice. He was also attorney for 
a number of conductors in 1875, when they were 
charged with larceny from the railroad companies 
with which they were connected. He was also 
attorney for Clem Periolat and the county com- 
missioners, better known as the "Court-house 
Ring Crowd," all of whom were acquitted. He 
was also' attorney for R. K. Turner and Howard 
Turner in the celebrated land forgery case, in 
which over three millions of dollars were in- 
volved, for which he succeeded in obtaining an 
acquittal for both. He is the attorney for several 
railroad associations, and in connection with 
Pinkerton, has conducted dififerent noted cases, in 
which persons were charged with various crimes 
against the railroads, with great success. He 
was attorney for Lehman, in the celebrated case 
of Lehman vs. Chicago Herald, and after a se- 
vere trial, obtained a jivd'gnient for twenty-five 
thousand dollars against the old Herald, July 3, 
1883, the jury deliberating but fifteen minutes 
before returning a verdict. There were seven of 
these cases in all pending against the Herald at 



42 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



the time and the judgment practicall)- broke the 
paper. 

Mr. Trude was for a long time attorney for 
the Chicago City Railway Company and one of 
the attorneys for the old Chicago & Alton Rail- 
road Company. He has figured in a great many 
extradition cases, one of which was the "New- 
berry poker case," in which one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars were won by Weed from 
Seath and Hedges. The defendants' attorneys 
attempted by a writ habeas corpus in the cir- 
cuit court of Cook county to procure the dis- 
charge of the defendants, but through the ef- 
forts of Mr. Trude they were remanded. 
In 1 8/6 Mr. Trude became attorney for the 
Chicago Times and defended the editor, Wilbur 
F. Story, in the celebrated extradition case, when 
Mr. William Beck, Chief of Police of ]\Iilwaukee. 
appeared for the prosecution, together with the 
attorneys. In this case an effort was made to 
take Mr. Story to Wisconsin to answer for the 
crime of libel against the laws of the state. The 



point raised by ^Mr. Trude was that, as Mr. Story 
had not fled from the rec^uiring state, under the 
act of Congress relating to fugitives from jus- 
tice, he could not be sent to that state without 
a plain violation of the law. Governor Beveridge 
discharged Air. Story and Attorney-General Ed- 
sall concurred. Mr. Trude tried in behalf of 
The Times fifty-two libel cases, most of the ver- 
dicts being not guilty, while others varied from 
one cent to a dollar verdicts, except the case of 
Alice E. Early against Air. Story, where a ver- 
dict was rendered for five hundred dollars. On 
a previous occasion, when the late Alessrs. E. A. 
Storrs and Wirt Dexter defended, the verdict 
was twenty-five thousand dollars, and it was im- 
mediately following this verdict that Mr. Trude 
became attorney for the old Times. 

Air. Trude was married in 1868 to Miss Al- 
genia D. Pearson, of Lockport, New York. She 
is a lady of culture and the center of a brilliant 
societv circle. They reside at their beautiful resi- 
dence on Drexel Boulevard, in Chicago. 



JACOB NEWMAN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Jacob Newman, one of the able and success- 
ful members of the Chicago bar, was born No- 
vember 12, 1853. When he was four years of 
age his parents settled on a farm in Butler coun- 
ty, Ohio, where he remained for a short time, but 
soon left home to begin life up>on his own respon- 
sibility. His only capital at the time was his in- 
dependence and perseverance, qualities, howex'er, 
which were bound to lead to his ultimate success. 
He first went to Noblesville, Indiana, where he 
remained for six years, coming to Chicago in 
1867. Here he labored diligently for two years, 
by the end of which time he bad saved sufficient 
money to enable him to attend college. He en- 
tered the University of Chicago and, with the 
aid of the monev he had saved and what he made 



outside of school hours, was able to graduate 
with his class in 1873. An opportunity was soon 
oftered him to become associated in the practice 
(_if law with Judge Graham, which he accepted, 
the firm being known as Graham & Newman. 
Some few years later Judge Graham moved to 
the far W'est and left Mr. Newman a well-estab- 
lished practice, which he not only retained but 
increased. In 1881 he entered into partnership 
with Air. Adolph Aloses under the firm name of 
Aloses & Newman, a partnership which contin- 
ued until 1890 and which was highly successful. 
Air. Newman is one of those lawyers who may 
with truth be said to be specialists in all branches 
of law, so wide is his knowledge of each of them. 
He has been identified with many important cases 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



45 



but is ■ reiuenibered must prominently, perhaps, leading clubs of tlie city, among them the Union 



with the htigation of the Chicago> Gas Trust. League. 



Ini all matters pertaining tO' politics he is a He was married ]\Iay 30, 1888, to Miss Min- 

stanch Republican. In social and fraternal circles nie Goodman, daughter of Mr. Hugo Goodman, 
he is a Mason and associated with several of the one of Chicago's early settlers. 



HON. ELISHA C. FIELD 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



In no field of usefulness do we obserx-e 
changes that have taken place in the last fifty 
years more than in the practice of law. As for- 
merly conceived, it was necessary for a profes- 
sional man to be able to prosecute ecjually well 
any line of thought that was brought to- his notice, 
but in conformity with the methods that have 
marked all industrial and cnmmercial growth 
during the past twenty years, large interests in 
the financial world demand specialists. 

Conspicuous among railroad counsellors, men- 
tion should be made of Elisha C. Field, who', 
since 1889, has been general solicitor for the 
Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railroad, 
which succeeded the Louisville, New Albany & 
Chicago Railroad. And in the years he has been 
prominent in railroad affairs, no one stands 
higher in legal circles than the subject of this 
review. 

Born in Porter county, Indiana, April 9, 
1842, Judge Fieldi is a son of Thomas J. and 
Louisa (Chapman) Field, natives of New York, 
who moved tO' Indiana in 1836, where they re- 
sided until their death, the father at seventy-two 
and the mother at sixty-four years of age. The 
education of Judge Field was obtained in the 
public schools and at the Valparaiso (Indiana), 
College, now the Northern Indiana Normal 
School, from which he graduated in 1862. 

Having decided tO' embark in the practice of 
law, and desiring to obtain the best means for ed- 
ucating himself, admission was applied for in the 
law department of the Lhiiversity of Michigan, 



located at Ann Arbor, from which he graduated 
in 1865. The first place Mhere Judge Field be- 
gan practice was at Crown Point, Indiana, and 
after three years at the bar his talents were so 
far recognized that in 1868 he was elected prose- 
cuting attorney from the ninth district of that 
state, and at the expiration of his term of office, 
he was elected to' the general assembly. Dur- 
ing these years of progress Judge Field was win- 
ning a large circle of valuable acquaintances 
among all the residents of his district, and the 
care and attention he paid to every matter 
brought before him made his ultimate success 
more certain. There was nothing pyrotechnical, 
but everything was solid and firm in all pleadings 
before the bar, and his clientage knew that every 
detail pertaining to a case was thoroughly 
mapped out and understood in advance, cjualities 
which gave confidence to all who intrusted their 
interests into- his hands. Step by step Judge 
Field advanced until his qualifications for higher 
office became apparent tO' many, which resulted 
in his election to the judgeship of the thirty-first 
Circuit Court of Indiana, and owing to- his abil- 
ity a re-election was given him in 1884, on the 
Republican ticket, which was the more remark- 
able inasmuch as all political opponents recog- 
nizing his zeal and worth, which were free from 
all bias and partisan prejudice, declined to place 
any candidate of their party in opposition, an act 
that spoke volumes in the estimation of friends 
and foes alike. 

Upon Judge Field's appointment to his pres- 



46 



PROMIXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



ent office, a removal tO' Chicago l)ecanie necessary, 
and liis identitication w itli the city's various in- 
terests is shown by the many acknowledgements 
made by him by the officials of the road, so well 
represented by him, and by his connection with 
the Harvard Cluli as a member, and in the coim- 
cils of the Republican party. 

A delegate from the Tenth Congressional 
District, Judge Field was a prominent figure in 
the convention that nominated Benjamin Har- 
rison for president at Chicago. 

Easy' of access, genial and companionable 
with all, Tndge Field readilv makes friends, and. 



what is more, retains them. His domestic life 
is one of rare enjoyment, liis marriage to Miss 
Mary Jackman, of Sycamore, Illinois, having 
taken place in 1864. His family consists of two 
sons and two daughters, Charles E. holding the 
position of general claim agent f(jr the Chicago, 
Indianapolis & Louisville Railroad, while his 
brother, Robert L., is a graduate of the Bristol 
Military School of Virginia, and by the governor 
of that state was commissioned a captain. The 
daughters are Cora Belle, who is now Mrs. G. V. 
Crosby, residing in Albuquerque, X'^ew jNIexico, 
and Bernice Rav. 



DEMPSTER OSTRANDER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




In the classification of the names of men of 
prominence in Chicago, the name of Dempster 
Ostrander occupies a notable place as one stand- 
ing without reproach. The place he has won in 
insurance circles is accorded him ini recognition 
.. . of his skill and ability, and the 

place he occupies in the social 
world is a tribute to that true 
worth which is universally rec- 
ognized and honored. 

Dempster Ostrander was born 
^^^ in Onondaga county, New York, 

^^^^ November 20, 1834, and is a son 
^^^m of James H. aiid Asenath (Shef- 
Jjj^^ field) Ostrander. He is de- 
scended on his father's side from 
an old Dutch family prominent in the early his- 
tory of the state oi New York. His mother's 
ancestry were of English origin, of the old name 
of Sheffield, and her father was a .soldier of the 
Revolutionary War. 

When seven years of age Mr. Ostrantler re- 
nioved west with his parents, settling in the wil- 
derness in Wisconsin, coming across the prairies 
of Indiana and Illinois by teams. He passed 



tlirough Chicago, then nothing but a little frontier 
town, located in a muddy swamp, which sur- 
rounded it on all sides save on the east, where 
there was a vast expanse of great lake. The pio- 
neers crossed Chicago river by means of a ferry 
or float bridge, which had been established for 
the use of the straggling traffic which was in 
those days so irregularly kept up toward the 
western wilderness. When his father settled in 
Wisconsin there were not more than half a dozen 
other settlers upon the adjacent six hundred 
square miles which to-day is so thickly populated. 
Here in the wilderness, visited only at rare inter- 
vals by white man, and on friendly terms with 
roving bands of Indians, the early life of Mr. 
Ostrander was spent. His schooling, until he 
reached the age of ten years, was nature's vast 
domain and his teacher was experience. Year by 
year, however, there gathered around the lonely 
farm of Mr. Ostrander a community of hardy 
pioneers, and finally a school house was con- 
structed for the instruction of children. It was 
here that IMr. Ostrander commenced his educa- 
tion, entering school at the age of ten years. At 
the age of twenty years, with much personal sac- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT ^^'EST 



47 



rifice on the part of his father, he was placed in 
the University of Wisconsin at Madison. At 
the age of thirty-one years, or in 1865, Mr. 
Ostrander became connected with a manufactur- 
ing business at JefTerson, Wisconsin, and through 
all the intervening time he has retained a silent 
interest in this enterprise. He has been con- 
nected more or less since 1855 ^^'ith the insurance' 
business, in which he has become a very promi- 
nent figure. He also' studied law, and in 1861 
was admitted to the bar at JefTerson, Wisconsin, 
but has never taken up the practice as a i)ro- 
fession. Mr. Ostrander is a man of decided 
literary tastes and ability. Plis greatest pleasure, 
after a day's -toil at the office, is to repair 
to the library, and there, among the famous' 
works of HugO', Spencer, Ralph Waldo Emer- 
son, Macauley, Adam Smith, Bulwer and many 
others, give himself up to their perusal. He has 
been for a long time a contributor to journals 
and magazines of this country and has given 
more to the public concerning insurance law than 
perhaps any other man of the day. His treatise 
on that subject has become a standard authority. 
Besides he is the author of several books discuss- 
ing social and economic questions. 

Mr. Ostrander was united in marriage De- 
ceinber 24, 1856, to Miss Sarah E. Manville, of 
Jeiiferson, Wisconsin, who is a lady of marked 
culture and refinement, of brilliant intellectual en- 
dowment and a most kind and generous disposi- 
tion. It is tO' her cheerful aid and sympathy, in 
thfe performance of the duties which have fallen 
to his lot, that Mr. Ostrander attributes much of 
his success. 

Mr. Ostrander came from Milwaukee, set- 
tling in Chicago in the year 1889. They have 
had three children : Frank, the well-known busi- 
ness man of West Superior, Wisconsin, who' died 
some months ago; Minnie, now Mrs. W. H. My- 
brea, whose husband is a leading lawyer in \\'au- 
sau, Wisconsin, and late attorney-general of that 
state; and Belle, now I\Irs. Theodore Sterrett, 



whose husband is an architect and builder of New 
^'ork. 

Politically Mr. Ostrander is affiliated with the 
Republican party, and though he has never taken 
a very prominent part in politics, it may be men- 
tioned that he was, before the war, a warm ail- 
vocate of anti-slavery [jrinciples, and took great 
interest in the campaigns which were waged on 
the slavery question. He has never sought or 
held public office. He is a member of the Uni- 
tarian Society. His interest in religious and 
charitable enterprises takes a practical form. He 
is a man of fine appearance, genial and of pleas- 
ing manner, and one who makes friends of all 
with whom he comes in contact. His career has 
been most successful. 

When Mr. Ostrander was in\-ited to relate 
some of the important events of his life, he re- 
plied : 



"There is nothing of distinguishing import- 
ance in anything" with which I have ever been 
connected. Aside from the unimportant part I 
had in the Civil War, I have never experienced 
or witnessed anything in a marked sense tragic 
or heroic. From eight years of age I have had 
to earn my daily bread. Even dtu'ing my school 
days I was never wholly excused from manual 
labor. Afterward, when the liberty was given me 
to indulge in higher aspirations, this privilege, 
too, was so persistently qualified by the limitations 
of opportunity, so encumbered by the struggles 
for existence, that in most cases I have been com- 
pelled to accept unsatisfactory compromises with 
a fate which, though seldom unkind, was always 
stern. There has not been one line of poetry or 
romance in any page of my existence. The habit 
of toil, early confirmed, has roljljed elYort of 
its accustomed weariness and has become an ele- 
ment of strength and a stable foundation for 
hope and modest ambition. It established con- 
fidence and made, in a measure, indifferent the 
shuffling tricks of fickle fortune." 

In Mr. Ostrander's character there is some- 



48 



PROMIXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



thing he has found in the little log school house, edge, which has been gathered from books and 

with the slab roof and the earth floor, which he experience, and the whole has been crystallized 

has brought down from the early 'forties, and into substantial form and gives to his intluence a 

to which he has added later accretions of knowl- power that is far-reachSng and permanent. 



[RA WARNER BUELL 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Among the able and prominent members of 
the legal profession the name of Ira Warner 
Buell deserves to^ be perpetuated. With the his- 
tory of Chicago he has been identified for over 
forty-five years. His record as a lawyer is in 
harmony with his record as a man, distinguished 
by unswerving integrity and a rare comprehen- 
sion of every problem that has presented itself 
for solution. His knowledge of the cardinal and 
elemeiitary principles of the law, aided by his 
logical poAvers of thought, enabled him readily 
tc apply those principles to the many new and 
diversified cjuestions which arise in modern busi- 
ness transactions. In ability rigWtly to apply 
legal principles to facts lies the test of a true 
lawyer. In tlie life of the lawyer, whose noblest 
victories are won amid the order and decorum 
of judicial tribunals, unlike that of the soldier 
or that of the statesman, there is seldom any- 
thing graphic, heroic or entertaining to the gen- 
eral reader. The highest tribute that can be paid 
to him is that he protects the rights of his clients 
with zeal, ability and fidelity and maintains the 
character of citizen of honor and integrity. 

Ira Warner Buell was born December 9, 
1830, at Lebanon, Aladison county, Xe\v York. 
He is a son of the late Elijah and Elizabeth (Hig- 
gins) Buell and a descendant of W'illiam Buell, 
who came to America in 1830, from Chesterton. 
England, and settled first at Dorchester, jMassa- 
cliusetts, and afterwards at Windsor, Connecti- 
cut. To this William Buell, as a common ances- 
tor, all Americans of the name of Buell may trace 
their lineage, among whom there are and have 



been men eminent as statesmen, jurists, lawyers 
and soldiers. 

The subject of this brief sketch spent his 
early boyhood on the farm of his parents and 
in attendance at the country public school, wiiich 
was a very different institution in the thirties 
and forties to what it was in the early years of 
this century. At sixteen, we find him teaching 
school, and at the age of nineteen, in attendance 
at tlie Madison University. From college he pro- 
ceeded to the study of the law and in Septem- 
ber, 1855, was admitted, at Rochester, New York, 
to practice in the Courts of Xew York State. 
In 1856, acting on Greeley's advice, he came 
west, selecting Chicago as his future home. In 
i860, he was elected Supervisor of North Clii- 
cago and in 1861 was elected City Attorney. In 
1 87 1, the nomination for Judge of the Circuit 
Court was tendered him by a joint con\-ention 
of Republicans and Democrats but he declined 
the honor,, prudently preferring to enlarge and 
confirm his growing law practice, already yield- 
ing him a fair income, rather than to assume 
thus early the onerous and exacting duties of a 
Judge, In 1879, he accepted the Republican 
nomination for Judge of the Circuit Court, being 
chosen on the first ballot of 177 out of 190 votes 
and by a majority of the delegates from every 
v;ard and townshij), witli one exception. Eras- 
tus Williams, Henry Bootli. Charles H. Reed 
and Julius Rosenthal were his colleagues on the 
Republican ticket, all of whom except Julius 
Rosenthal have passed into the "silent land." 
The year 1879 was not a Republican year and 




\> 



& 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



51 



Mr. Bucll sliareil llic coninion fate of his co- 
nominees and all the other Republican candidates 
in Cook comity that year. From the present 
standpoint, he regards his defeat as a good for- 
tune, enabling him to- enjoy the pleasure, profit 
and freedom of a successful practice at the bar, 
with consequent relief from the grave duties and 
responsibilities oi judicial life. During the last 
twenty years, Mr. Buell has taken no further ac- 
tion in politics than is incumbent upon all good 
citizens, and has devoted his business hours to 
his legal practice and his leisure to the pleasures 
of domestic and social life. Mr. Buell is one 
of the founders of the Union League Club of 
Chicago, and drafted the broad and liberal 
declaration of principles first adopted and still 
maintained by this most famous and influential 



of civic clul)s, of which he was one of the di- 
rectors during the first three years of its exist- 
ence. He is one of the oldest members of the 
Law Imstitute, has attained high honors in Ma- 
sonry, is a I'ast Master of Blaney Lodge, F. & 
A. M. and a Knight Templar. As a lawyer, Mr. 
Buell is famous for success in chancery, corpora- 
tion, insurance and' commercial cases. This the 
reports of the decisions of our Supreme Court 
fully attest. Mr. Buell has noi sons to inherit 
his fame and practice. His one daughter, Eliza- 
beth Averell, is the wife of Mr. Henry C. Pat- 
terson, of Chicago. Mr. Buell's interest in the 
welfare, progress and moral and material ad- 
vancement of Chicago is deep and sincere. The 
social c[ualities of his nature have entleared him 
to manv friends. 



THOMAS MACLAY HOYNE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Thomas M. Hoyne, s«iior member of the 
well-known legal firm of Hoyne, O'Conner & 
Hoyne. is a well-known lawyer of the Illinois 
bar. The name of Hoyne will always occupy a 
notable place among distinguished lawyers of the 
state of Illinois. 

Thomas M. Hoyne was born at Galena, Illi- 
nois, July 17, 1S43, and is a son of Thomas 
Hoyne. who' in liis time was one of the leading 
lawyers of Chicago, and Lenora (Temple) 
Hoyne, a daughter of the late John T. Teinple, 
M. D., an old resident of Chicago, and died in 
St. Louis. 

Mr. Hoyne came to Chicago with his parents 
when quite young and received his early educa- 
tion at the Chicagoi public schools. Later was 
graduated from the then only high school in Chi- 
cago. After this he went to New York City, 
where he engaged in business for a time, and 
tlien returned to Chicago and began the study 
of law in the office of Hoyne, Miller & Lewis, of 



which firm his illustrious father was the senior 
member. 

Here for three years he applied himself 
to a general course of legal reading, and dur- 
ing a portion of that period attended the law 
school of the old Chicago University, from which 
he graduated in 1866. The following year he 
was admitted tO' partnership in the firm, which 
then became known as Hoyne, Horton & Ho_\-ne. 
Thomas Hoyne died in 1883 and the business 
continued as Horton & Hoyne until 1887, when 
Mr. Horton was elected to the bench. Mr. Hoyne 
then associated himself with 'Mv. George A. 
b'ollansbee and Mr. John O'Connor, and the 
firm was then known as Hoyne, Follansbee & 
O'Connor. 

This connection continued until January i, 
1899, when the present firm w-as formed by the 
admission of Mr. Maclay Hoyne, son of Mr. 
Hoyne. All of these firms have been quite promi- 
nent in legal circles of Chicagxi, transacting for 



52 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



tlie most part a general law practice, although 
thev have been and still continue to be best known 
in matters relating tO' real estate, insurance and 
commercial law. 

Politically ^Ir. Hoyne is a Democrat. He 
is one of the organizers of the Chicago Dem- 
ocratic Club, which in 1881 became what 
is now known as the Irocpois Club. Of 
this organization or club he was president in 
181)7. He is also' a member of the Illinois State 



Bar Association, tlie Chicago Bar Association, 
the Eaw Institute and the Union League Club. 

The family from which Mr. Hoyne sprang 
has long been considered one of the prominent 
ones of the state of Illinois. 

Mr. Hoyne was married in 1871 to Miss 
Jeanie T. Maclay, daughter of Moses B. Maclay, 
a well-known lawyer of New York. They have 
a family of si.x children, four sons and two 
daughters. 



LAFAYETTE McWlLLlAMS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Lafayette McWilliams, until recently a mem- 
ber of the firm of Marshall Field & Company, 
was burn in the town of PetcrborO', Madison 
county. New York, June 11, 1843, ^"^ i^ a 
S(jn of Hugh McWilbams and Mary McWill- 
iams, formerly Miss ^Nlary Wil- 
son. Both parents emigrated 
frcim Ireland to the United 
States, and, as the name indi- 
cates, were of Scotch-Irish and 
Protestant descent. 

Mr. McWilliams received his 
earlv echication at the Peterboro 
district school. Later he attend- 
ed the academy in the same town, 
and then taught scl:ool at Madi- 
son. New ^'cirk, fur a year, Avith a view of finan- 
cial preparation fnr a cnllege course. Later, he 
entered Oberlin College, Oberlin. Ohio, but re- 
mained only a short time, and then returned to 
his home to enlist as a private, in June. 1862, 
with the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Regi- 
ment of New York Volunteers. The character 
of Mr. AlcWilliams' military career is disclosed 
by a simple recital of its chief events. Enlisting 
as a private, without political or social influence, 
he successively held the offices of Third Sergeant, 
First Sergeant, Second Lieutenant, First Lieu- 




tenant and Captain in his regiment, and at the 
close of the war was recommended for brevet 
promotion, but he took an honorable discharge 
and retired from the army as Captain. He was 
severely wounded at the battle of Honey Hill, 
South Carolina, November 30, 1864. The end 
of the war found him temporarily lame from the 
wound in his leg. 

Mr. McWilliams rested at his home in New 
York, recovering from his wounds, until Au- 
gust, 1865, and then came west to Chicago and 
entered the service of the then famous dry goods 
house of Field, Palmer & Leiter (now Marshall 
Field & Company), with which firm he has ever 
since been identified, until just recently, when 
he retired from business. That same fidelity to 
duty and promptness of execution wdiich resulted 
in a series of promotions in military life, served 
him well in the commercial world. He held vari- 
ous positions with the fimi, finally became a part- 
ner and retired from business in January, 1900. 

Mr. McWilliams has continued for many 
years a steadfast Republican, and has a deep and 
abiding faith in the principles of that party. 

In religious belief he is a Presbyterian and is 
one of the elders of the Sixth Church of that de- 
nomination. 

The Militarv Order of the Loval Legion, the 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



53 



flraiul Army nf tlie Reinililic, the Undon League Mr. McWilliams was united iu marriage June 

Club, and tiiei Midlothian Golf Club hold the 29, 1871, to Miss Mary F. Goodman of Chi- 

name of Mr. McWilliams on their roll of mem- cago. They have had four children, three sons 

bersliip. and a daughter, that add much to the pleasure of 

Always upright, reliable and honorable, Mr. their home life. Their household is the abode 

McWilliams' strict adherence to principles com- of cultured Imspitality, and is one of the ideal 

mauds the respect of all. homes of the city. 



HON. EDWARD F. DUNNE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Hon. Edward F. Dunne, judge of the circuit 
court of Cook county, brought to the bench not 
only profound learning but also that which is 
far more useful, — a wide experience in affairs 
and an almost unerring judgment. In his busi- 
ness life he has displayed the same singular 
sagacity, clear judgment and tireless industry. 
Often called to posts of honor and responsibility 
by his fellow citizens, he has discharged every 
duty with fidelity to the trust imposed in him. 

Judge Dunne was born in Waterville, Connec- 
ticut, October 12, 1853, ^nd is a son of P. W. and 
Delia M. Dunne. He removed with his parents 
to Peoria, Illinois, at an early age and attended 
the ]niblic and higii schools in that city, afterward 
taking a thorough coiirse in the Trinity College 
University, of Dublin, Ireland. After leaving 
the university Mr. Dunne engaged in the flour- 
milling business with his father in Peoria for 
about a year and then removed with his family 
to Chicago and commenced the study of law, 
being admitted tO' the bar in 1877. Soon after 
ei:tering upon the practice oi law he formed a 
partnership with the late Judge Scates and the 
Hon. William J. Hynes, under the firm name of 
Scates, Hynes & Dunne, and afterward with Mr. 
Hynes and William J. English, under the firm 
name of Hynes, English & Dunne. He speedily 
acquired prominence at the bar, where his ability 
and purity of character were early recognized. 
In 1892 he was elected circuit judge of Cook 



county, Illinois, and was re-elected in June, 1897, 
and still occupies the bench, where he is univer- 
sally regarded as one of the ablest jurists on the 
Cook county bench. The political career of 
Judge Dunne has been alike able and honorable. 
He has always been an earnest advocate of Demo- 
cratic princii)les and has delivered many cam- 
paign addresses, in which his logical arguments, 
entertainingly presented, carry conviction to the 
minds oi his hearers. He is tireless in his advo- 
cacy of Democratic measures, for his belief arises 
from an honest conviction that the welfare of the 
nation can best be conserved through this politi- 
cal channel. 

He is a charter member and was the first 
president of the famous Monticello Club, of Chi- 
cago, which has at different times entertained at 
banquets many of the leading Democrats of the 
nation. He was re-elected president of the club 
at the annual election held February 6, 1899, and 
always commanded the utmost confidence of that 
organization, which numbers nearly every promi- 
nent Democrat in Illinois in its membership. 
Judge Dunne was also the first president of the 
Des]>laincs Council of the Catholic Benevolent 
Legion, and is a memljer of the Columbus Club, 
the Royal Arcanum and the Royal League. He 
receutlv resigned his membership in the Iroquois 
Club. 

Outside of his professional life he exhibits 
many rare qualities. He is a man of unusual 



54 



PROMINENT .AIEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



syni[);ithies and shows liis friends a generous and 
nuble nature. \\'liile of a ratlier reserved tem- 
I)erament to those nearest to him, his conversa- 
tion shows broad culture and wide acquaintance 
with hterature and their attril>utes, added to the 
genial humor sn characteristic of him. all of 
■which greatly endears him to those fortunate 
enough to be admitted to his friendship. He has 
ideals and lives up to them. It may be truth- 
fully said. \\'itlK)Ut charges of flattery, that as a 
judge, none ever sat upon the bench in this 
c<iuntv more thoughtful, honest and unpre- 



judiced in rulings and decisions, nor one who 
has a higher appreciation of the importance 
and dignity of the office he so honorably and suc- 
cessfully fills. 

Judge Dunne was united in marriage August 
16, 1881, to Miss Elizabeth Kelly, and is the fa- 
ther of nine children, six of whom are living 
He was recently honored by the degree of LL. D., 
which was conferred upon him by St. Ignatius 
College. Judge Dunne, with his family, resides 
in their beautiful home in River Forest, Cook 
county, Illinois. 



ARTHUR HUMPHREY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Born beyond the middle west, July 13, 1858, 
from an ancestry embracing some of the oldest 
and most influential families of old Virginia 
and Pemisvhania. Mr. Humphrev spent the 
earlier portion of his life on a farm and in stock 
raising and milling business, where a naturally 
robust constitution and kindly disposition were 
gi\'en full devel(i])ment. In his youth he attended 
the common schools and later a state normal, 
but his real education was acquired by private 
study and reading and in the school of nature 
and experience. 

In 1880 ]Mr. Humiihrey came to Chicago, a 
stranger, with no capital, but with a sterling in- 
tegrity, an indomitable w^ill and an abiding faith 
in the future. He soon secured a position as an 
instructor and afterward as superintendent of 
the business department of Bryant's Business Cok 
lege. While engaged in this work his leisure 
time and evenings were employed in reading law. 
With a desire tO' get a more practical experience 
and a knowledge of business men and methods, 
he later entered tlie emi)loy of one of the largest 
concerns at the Union Stock Yards. Here his 
thorough knowledge of accounts was soon demon- 
strated and he gained a most valuable business 



experience. He often says that of all his school- 
ir.g the time spent with this house was of the 
most practical value, for it gave him a thorough 
knowledge of first-class business men and meth- 
ods. While engaged with this house Mr. Hum- 
phrey pursued his legal studies with a regularity 
and tenacity which was, to say the least, unusual, 
and when the time came, took the examination 
for admission- to the Illinois bar before a com- 
mittee appointed by the appellate court, and 
was one of the fortunate few who passed a most 
rigid examination. After devoting nearly an- 
other year to hard work and study he entered 
his chosen profession. Then commenced those 
days of seeking for business and clients which 
try the souls of young professional men and cause 
so many to fall by the wayside. 

Mr. Humphrey possesses in a high degree 
three characteristics which have dominated his 
life and contributed largely to his success, — hon- 
esty, industry and determination. When he is 
once convinced that a thing is right, and sets his 
mind upon accomplishing it, he never gives up, 
but works and waits with a singleness of pur- 
pose and detennination that usually brings suc- 
cess. Mr. Humphrev practiced alone up to 1892. 



liifK W 




-"i =/'■ 



^^^^^'f'^tyKMA/ Q/IUUX^uJt'MJLU/r^^ 



y 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



57 



when he funned a partnership with ex-Judge 
Barnnm and his sun, under the name of Barnum, 
Humphrey & Barnum, Avliich cuntinued for six 
years, when Mr. liumpihrey withdrew. Since 
this time he has practiced alone, with greater suc- 
cess than betore. ]\Ir. Humphrey is an able law- 
yer, thorough, careful and painstaking in his 
business. He enjoys an enviable reputation as a 
lawyer and as a man, and has built up a good 
general practice, but prefers corporation and real- 
estate law, in wdiich he has won his greatest suc- 
cess. Reared in an atmosphere of political in- 
tensit}', such as characterized the early days of 
Kansas, it is not strange that Mr. Humphrey 
should be stalwart in Republicanism, and a firm 
adherent to his party. Although a man of strono- 
convictions and active in politics, he has never 



held nor has lie been a candidate fur political 
office, preferring to^ devote his attention to his 
profession. ' 

Mr. Humphrey possesses fine literary tastes, 
and, besides an excellent law library, has a fine 
general library of carefully selected works. He 
is fond of biography, history, travel and adven- 
ture, as well as fiction and poetry, but does not 
care particularly for the popular novel of the day; 
preferring Scott, Thackeray, Hawthorne and 
others of the same school. He is fond of out- 
door sports, particularly riding, driving and the 
"rod and gun," but finds little time to gratify his 
tastes in this direction. Mr. Humphrey is a 
member of the Union League, ^larquette, Ham- 
ilton and Woodlawn Park Clubs, and is also a 
Mason. 



JAMES H. ECKELS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



James li. Eckels, president of the Commercial 
National Bank, was born at Princeton, November 
22, 1858. After taking a course at the public 
schools at Princeton he entered the Albany Law 
School at Albany, New York, graduating there- 
from in 1880, and returning immediately to- the 
west to engage in the practice of his profession 
at Ottawa, Illinois. He was successful from the 
start and soon gained more than local renown 
and distinction as an orator of ability. 

He first came into national prominence, how- 
ever, in 1893. when President Cleveland ap- 
jiointed him comptroller of the currency, a po- 
sition second only in importance to that of secre- 
tary^ of the treasury. The appointment of so 
young', and, as yet, an untried man, br<iught 
severe criticism upon the chief executive, Ijut the 
president w-as confident in the wisdom of his 
selection and asked those who deprecated the ap- 
pointment to suspend judgment until judgment 
was warranted by the logic of events. 



It was only a few \\eeks after Mr. Eckels took 
charge of the office of comptroller that the great 
panic of 1893 burst upon the land. One hundred 
and sixty-five national banks failed during the 
next ten weeks and a period of apprehension and 
anxiety such as the financial interests of the coun- 
try never knew before followed. Out of these 
one hundred and sixty-five banks one hundred 
and fifteen resumed, of which number only fifteen 
fell back, leaving one hundred saved from the 
original number. There was collected and paid 
out to depositors of failed banks over twenty- 
eig-ht million dollars, or over thirty-six per cent. 
of all that had been paid out in the history of the 
system. There were many other banks that had 
to lie carefully nursed and protected in order to 
enalile them to pull through, and altogether it 
was a time of unceasing strain and anxiety. It 
was a herculean task for the new comptroller, but 
his strength and sagacity were equal to the 
emergency. The statement has been made of 



58 



PROMIXEXT AIEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



liini that he "never made a mistake" during the 
four years and a half that he was at the helm. 
Certain it was that by his administration of the 
arduous duties devolving upon him he won the 
respect and admiration of financiers, both at home 
and abroad, and has taken rank as among the 
ablest of those who ever held the office of comp- 
troller. 

After the election of President ]\IcKinley, 
when it was known that Air. Eckels would re- 
turn to private life, he was the recipient of many 
flattering offers from financial institutions. 
Being an Illinoisan by birth, he consequently felt 
more at home here, and acce^ited the presidency 



of the Commercial National Bank of Chicago 
r.nd assumed his duties on the first of January, 
1898. He associated with him as vice-president 
John C. ^McKeoii, who- had been national bank 
examiner and receiver of the National Bank of 
Illinois, and as cashier Joseph T. Talbert, who 
had also been one of his national bank examiners. 
Under the careful guidance of these gentlemen 
the Commercial National Bank is to-day one of 
the foremost banking institutions of Chicago. 

Mr. Eckels was united in marriage in 1887 
to ]\Iiss Fannie Reed, of Ottawa, and has one 
child, a daughter, Phoebe, aged nine years. Mrs. 
1-lckels is a ladv of marked culture and refinement. 



JOHN GALT McWILLlAMS 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



Mr. John G. McW'iiliams, who has been a 
resident of Chicago for forty-four years, during 
which time he has been closely identified with 
the progress and development of the city, is re- 
garded as one of its most enterprising and public- 
spirited citizens. His long con- 
nectiiin with the well-known dr}' 
goods house of Alarshall Field & 
Company naturally gives him 
great prominence, while his high 
character and strong individu- 
ality made an indelible impress- 
ion in the commercial life and 
history of Chicago. No citizen 
was ever mure respected, and no 
man nn ire fully enjoyed the con- 
fidence of the people. 
Starting as clerk, in 1857, and occupying 
various important positions of trust successively, 
in the meantime becoming a partner in 1883, is 
a record to be proud of, and illustrates the high 
appreciation in which his serxices were held. 

John G. McWilliams was born at Peterboro, 
Madison county, New York, June 15, 1839, ^"'^ 




is a son of Hugh and !Mary (Wilson) AlcWill- 
iams, who were both of Scotch-Irish descent and 
born in the north of Ireland, ijoth coming to 
America at an early age. Mr. McWilliams" edu- 
cation was obtained at the district schools and 
academy of Peterboro. In 1855 he was clerk in 
a dry goods store in Peterboro. In 1857 he re- 
moved to Chicago and became salesman for the 
dry goods house of W. R. Wood & Company, re- 
maining until September, 1861, when he enlisted 
in Company E, Mfty-first Illinois Infantry, as 
captain, serving in his regiment until the cloae 
of the war. March 24, 1864, he was promoted 
major, and as such served until March 6, 1865, 
when he was honorably discharged. 

Returning to Chicago, he became salesman 
in the wholesale dry goods house of Field, Pal- 
mer & Leiter, and while in their employ he or- 
ganized the first notion department in a dry 
goods house in this country, of which he was 
placed in charge. January, ]8()7, the firm be- 
came Field, Leiter & Company, and in 1881, 
:\Iarshall Field & Company. In 1883 Mr. Mc- 
\\'illiams became a partner. His connection con- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



59 



tinned nntil Jannarv, 1895, when lie sulci his in- 
terest and retired, having completed nearly thirty 
years' ser\-ice with the house, of which twelve 
years were on a i)artnership basis. Since this 
time he has spent much time in tra\-el, going 
abroad once or more every vear. 

The social qualities of Mr. McWilliams have 
won him many friends, and his rich fund of 
knowledge makes him an approachable and com- 
panionable gentleman. 

Mr. McWilliams is a Republican, but never 



held public ot^ice. He is a member of the Union 
League Club. and Chicago Athletic Association, 
Grand Army of the Republic and ^Military Order 
of the Loyal Legion. 

He has been twice married, in 1867 to Miss 
K. M. Willard, of Chicago, who died in 1884, 
leaving one child, Roy, and again in 1886 to 
Mrs. Caroline Wilson (Bea'll) Lee. 

Their home at No. 3945 Lake avenue, Chi- 
cago, is all that could be desired, and is one of 
the handsomest residences in the city. 



HON. PETER STENGER GROSSCUP 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Peter Stenger Grosscup was born February 
15, 1852, in Ashland, Ohio. On his father's 
side his lineage can be traced back to Holland, 
and on his mother's to Germany. But Ixith fam- 
ilies were established on American soil prior to 
the war of the Revolution. The great-grand- 
father, Paul Grosscup, was for many years a 
member of the Pennsylvania colonial assembly, 
and afterward of the Pennsylvania state assem- 
bly, also of the convention which met in Phila- 
delphia in 1 79 1 and framed the first state consti- 
tutinu. On his father's side the Judge is also 
c( nnected by ties of blood with the Stenger fam- 
ily, well known in poHtical circles in Pennsyl- 
vania and at the bar. His mother's name was 
Bowermaster, and her father was a soldier in the 
war of 18 12, while the grandfather held a com- 
mission as an officer in the American army dur- 
ing the Revolutionary war. On the maternal 
side Judge Grosscup is coimected with the Stude- 
bakers. well known in the Inisiness world. 

Peter Stenger Grosscup was educated in the 
schools of Ashland and in Wittenberg College, 
one of the educational institutions of the Lutheran 
church, from which he graduated in 1872 at the 
head of his class. He obtained his degree of 
LL. P). from the Boston Law School. From 



1874 until 1883 he engaged in the practice of his 
profession in Ashland, Ohio, and during six years 
of that time was city solicitor. Li 1876 he be- 
came the candidate of the Republican party for 
congress, but was defeated. In 1883 he took up 
his residence in Chicago, and became associated 
with the law firm headed by Leonard Swett, a 
former law partner of Abraham Lincoln, and the 
best-known attorney at that time of the west. 
iM-om that time forward Judge Grosscup partici- 
pated in some of the most important trrals oc- 
curring in the west, and built up a reputation as 
a lawyer, ranking among the ablest practitioners 
at the Chicago' bar. 

On December 12. 1892, he was apiMinted to 
the United States district bench l.iy President 
Harrison, and soon after assuming the duties of 
that ofiice attracted tire attention of the entire 
country by his decision upon the application of 
tlie government to close the World's Columbian 
Exposition on Sunday. He dissented from the 
two 'circuit judges on that occasion, but on an 
appeal to^ the circuit court of appeals, presided 
o\er by Chief Justice Fuller, this dissent was sus- 
tained. His most widel\- known service, how- 
ever, was in connection with the Debs riots of 
1894. In connection with the late circuit judge, 



6o 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Hon. William A. Wood, he issued the injunction 
in favor of the go\ernment and against the 
rioters. \\ lien this injunctinu was disregarded 
by the rioters he called upon the president for.the 
federal troops, a call that unquestionably saved 
the city from mob violence. Summoning the 
grand jury at the earliest day possible by law, he 
delivered to them on their assembling, in the 
midst of the riots, a charge that instantly gave 
him a national reputation. The indictments and 
arrests that followed were the beginning of the 
end of the mob violence. In the meantime he 
has handed down many decisions of interest to 
large portions of the i)ul)lic and to the profession 
generally. 

On January 23, 1899. Judge Grosscup was 
appointed to the United States circuit bench, and 
was soon after unanimously conhrmed by the 
senate. Since that time his work has been princi- 
pally in the ctiurt of appeals. 



In addition to his judicial duties Judge Gross- 
cup has been a frequent speaker at banquets and 
on general occasions. His Decoration Day ad- 
dress at Galesburg, Illinois, Alay 30, 1894, at- 
tracted wide attention, and an address delivered 
at Indianapolis in 1896 ran through an edition 
of more than half a million copies. At the Sara- 
toga conference, August, 1898, he replied tO' Carl 
Schurz on the questions growing out of the 
islands captured in the Spanish war, and was the 
first to insist uixjii a retention of these islands, 
lliis speech was widely published throughout the 
United States. 

^Irs. Grosscup, who died August 18, 1899, 
was the daughter of the late A. A. Taylor, of 
Loudonville. Ohio. She was a woman of singu- 
lar beauty and character, to whom Judge Gross- 
cup was greatly attached. The daughter, 
Kat]n\\'n Grosscup. now resides with her father. 



HOWARD H. GROSS 

CHlC.\GO, ILL. 



Howard H. Gross is a son of Dr. John C. 
and Caroline Gross, and was born at Marathon, 
Cortland county. New York, September 27, 1853. 
Eor the first twenty years his life was that of the 
average farmer's boy, working in the summer 
and going to school in the winter. At the age 
of nineteen he graduated at the Galva, Illinois, 
high school, and from 1871 to 1873 taught school 
in the public schools of Henry county, Illinois. 
From 1873 to 1875 he studied law, as prepara- 
tory to a business life, and from 1875 to 1883 was 
connected with the manufacturers of school fur- 
niture. He invented ;i number of valuable pieces 
of school apparatus, especially that relating to 
astronomy, upon which Mr. Gross is an author- 
ity. In 1878 he helped to organize the first school 
furniture combine. In 1883 he went to San 
Francisco and successfullv established a business 



enterprise that two or three other parties had at- 
tempted and failed; in 1885 he sold out at a large 
profit and laid the foundation ijf his future suc- 
cess. From 1885 to 1893 he collected artists 
from all over Europe and America and produced 
fifteen great cycloramas, placing them all over 
the world, from London, England, to Melbourne, 
Australia. He is a large dealer in paving ma- 
terials but his principal btisiness is promoting in- 
dustrials and has successfully financed some very 
large enterprises. 

Mr. Gross was a member of the Chicago 
board of education from 1896 to 1899 and was 
cliairman of the financial committee for two 
years during this period. He is connected with 
other public matters, being a director of the Com- 
mercial Association, Chicago Penny Savings, 
Conference of Charities, Educational Commis- 




^F^ i 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



63. 



sion, etc. He gives a large amount of lime to 
philanthi'npic and charity work. He has traveled 
extensively in Europe, West Indies, Sandwich 
Islands, Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, the 
United States and Canada. 

Politically he is a stanch Republican, and has 
supported his party and been active in its coun- 
sels for years. 



He is a man of strong character, a tireless 
worker, tirni of purpose and decisive in action. 
The careful discipline of a strong mind has been 
the great factor of his success. 

Mr. Gross was married April 11, 1878, to 
Miss Dell S. Condit, of Englewood ; they have 
four children and reside in a beautiful home at 
tlie corner of Indiana a\-enue and Sixtieth street. 



ALBERT WILLIAM TRUE 

CHICAGO. ILL. 



Albert W. True, treasurer of the well-known 
firm of True & True Cc.mpany, was born at Ot- 
tawa October 30, 1856, and is a son of William 
Mariner and Mary (Matson) True. His father 
was a native of Portland, Maine, and came to 
Ottawa, Illinois, in 1839, embarking in the mer- 
cantile and banking business. Later he liecame 
interested in Chicago' real estate, finally remov- 
ing to Chicago, where he died in 1876. 

Albert attended the Central high school and 
was graduated in 1876. He then matriculated 
at the Northwestern University of Evanston, 
Illinois, but was compelled to* abandon the course, 
liowever, upon the death of his father and se- 
cured an office position with the Methodist book 
concern, continuing there for three years. He 
then entered the office of the Phccnix Insurance 
Company, remaining one year, and in 1882 en- 
tered the wholesale lumber nffice of Hair & 
Odiorne, remaining with them until their failure 
in 1882. Mr. True had by this time become an 
expert accountant and was retained by the as- 
signee to help wind up the aflfairs of the firm, 
remaining with him until 1884. The following 
three years he was connected with the Hintze & 
Baker Company, a then prominent sash and door 
concern, as bookkeeper. During this time Mr. 
Baker withdrew and shortly afterwards Mr. 

Hintze withdrew to form the firm of Hintze & 
5 



W'eise, leaving- R. D. Farson as proprietor of the 
business and Mr. True as office manager. Early 
in 1888 the C. C. Thompson & Walkup Com- 
pany, a wholesale lumber and sash and door con- 
cern, retired from the trade. 

Mr. True, C. C. Thompson and his son, W. 
A. Thompson, then formed a partnership and 
started the Thompson & True Company, with a 
twenty-five-thousand-dollar capital, to succeed to- 
the business of the former company. Their plant 
was at the corner of Lincoln street and Blue 
Island ax'enue, where the present jjlant of True. 
&' True Company is located. 

In January, 1892, Mr. True's brother, Charles- 
J. True, purchased the Messrs. Thompsons' in- 
terest and the name was changed to the True &. 
True Company, capital fifty thousand dollars. C. 
J. True, president, and Albert \\'. True, secretary 
and treasurer. 

During the next four years the new firm con- 
tinued tO' grow, doing a conservative business. 
In 1897 they added a plant for the manufacture 
of odd work in order better to serve the trade,, 
purchasing the sash and door factory at Lincoln 
and Nineteenth street, which has since been used 
for turning out high grade mill work, having 
])ecn enlarged and reefpupped with up-to-date 
machinery, and it is now the largest factory of 
its kind in Chicago. June, 1901, the capital was,.. 



64 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



increased tu one hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
lars. Mr. Charles J. True was made president, 
Albert J. True, treasurer and John C. Ahrens, 
secretary. The firm ha\e an elegantly appointed 
ofifice (built in J900), where Charles J. True 
looks after the lumber part of the business, Al- 
bert W. True manages the sales department and 
John C. Ahrens has charge of the country trade 
and superintends the mo\-ements of the tra\-eling 



salesmen. The firm is one of the best known in 
the country, liberal advertisers and represented 
by expert salesmen and traveling men, the 
product of their factory is shipped all over the 
United States. . 

IMr. True is a Republican. He is a member 
of the Ashland Club of Chicago, and was mar- 
ried in September. 1899, to Miss Frances, daugh- 
ter of the late Charles E. Munger, of Chicago. 



HON. JAMES B. BRADWELL 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



James B. Bradwell was burn April 16. 1828, 
at Loughborough, England, his parents being 
Thomas and Elizabeth (Gutridge) Bradwell. 
Sixteen months after the birth uf James B. the 
family crossed the ocean to America and first lo- 
cated in Utica, New York, where 
they remained until 1833, when 
they came west by wagon and 
boat to Jacksonville, Illinois. 
There they remained until May, 
1834, wlien they removed in a 
C(jvered wagon or "prairie 
schooner," drawn by one span 
of horses and one yoke of oxen, 
to Wheeling, Cook county, Illinois, consuming 
twenty-one days in making the trip of two hun- 
dred and fifty miles. They settled upon a farm, 
and here James B. spent several years in mowing 
and cradling, splitting rails, breaking prairie, etc., 
which served' greatly to strengthen his constitu- 
tion and harden his muscles. He here suffered 
all the inconveniences and hardships of pioneer 
times, but developed a strong and active mind 
and an ambition for a higher and more active 
position in the great, busy world. 

His first lesson in schooling was received in 
a small country log school house, but later he at- 




tended Wilson Academy, in Chicago, in which 
Judge Lorenzo Sawyer was instructor. Still 
later he completed his education in Knox College, 
Galesburg, Illinois, sustaining himself there by 
working in a wagon and plow sht)p, sawing 
wood, etc., taking much of his pay in orders on 
the stores, many of which he was obliged to dis- 
count heavily for cash. This necessity made so 
strong an impression upon his mind that ever 
since he has maintained that the laborer is worthy 
of his hire and should receix'e one hundred cents 
on the dollar for his services. 

After finishing his education he began to 
stud}- law, and in time was duly admitted to the 
bar. During this period he worked at various 
trades as a journeyman, displaying much skill 
and exhibiting a high degree of inventive genius. 
So apt was he in all branches of mechanics that it 
is stated that if necessary he could earn his liv- 
ing in any one of the seventeen trades. Much 
work was conducted in Chicago. He invented a 
process for half-tone work, and is said to^ have 
produced the first half-tone cut ever made in this 
city. Upon beginning the practice of law here 
more than forty years agO' he soon acquired a 
large practice and the confidence of the i)ul)lic. 
He steadily advanced and became prominent in 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



65 



local politics by reason of his eloquence as a 
sjjeaker and his high social and conversational 
powers. 

In 1861 he entered the field of politics in 
earnest, and was elected county judge by a large 
majority, and after serving one term acceptably, 
was, in 1865, re-elected for a second term. Sev- 
eral very important reforms were effected by him 
in the procedure of his court. As a judge of this 
court he so' distinguished himself by his fairness, 
opinions and reforms that his services are yet 
recalled by the old members of the bar with great 
pleasure. In 1873 ^^ was sent to the lower house 
of the Legislature, and was re-elected in 1875, 
and distinguished himself there as a speaker and 
as an advocate of much-needed laws and reforms. 
He has been called upon by his fellow-citizens to 
occupy many positions of responsibility and to 
discharge grave public duties, all of which have 
been performed by him with rare judgment, high 
intelligence and unswerving loyalty and integrity. 

He presided at the American Woman Suff- 



rage Association at its organization in Cleve- 
land; was chairman of the arms and trophy de- 
partment of the Northwestern Sanitary Com- 
mission and Soldiers' Home Fair in 1865; was 
president of the Chicago Press Club; president 
of the Chicago Rifle Club, and was its best rifle 
shot; president of the Chicago Bar Association; 
president of the Illinois State Bar Association, 
and many years its historian ; president of the 
Chicago Soldiers' Home ; was one of the found- 
ers of the Union League Club and the first presi- 
dent of its board of directors; president of the 
Chicago Photographic Society; chairman of the 
Photographic Congress Auxiliary of the World's 
Columbian Exposition. 

Judge Bradwell has taken all degrees in Ma- 
sonry and has occupied many high positions in 
that ancient and honorable order. He is the pres- 
ent able editor of the Chicago Legal News, and 
is one of Chicago's foremost citizens. 

May 18, 1852, he was married to- Myra 
Colby. 



BERNARD EDWARD SUNNY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Mr. Bernard E. Sunny was born in Brook- 
lyn, New York, in 1856. He became a telegraph 
operator at an early age, and was employed by 
the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company. In 
1875 he came to Chicago to* accept a position 
with the same company, and was promoted to the 
position of night manager, and afterwards man- 
ager of that company's ofifice at Chicago. In 
1879 he took the position of superintendent of 
the Chicago Telephone Company, which he held 
for nine years, during which period the number 
of subscribers grew from a few hundred to over 
five thousand. Mr. Sunny was president of the 
Chicago Arc Light & Power Company for three 
years, up tO' 1891, at which time he became west- 



ern manager of the General Electric Company 
of New York, which position he continues to fill. 
Mr. Sunny was closely identified in many of 
the improvements and advances made in lx)th 
the telephone and electric lighting field, especially 
in connection with the solving of the problem of 
furnishing both classes of service through wires 
laid underground. Mr. Sunny 'was elected a 
director in the W'orld's Columbian Exposition, 
to represent the electric industrj^ and served for 
one year. He declined further service with the 
Exposition Company to becinne president of the 
Intramural railroad at the World's Fair, which 
was the first elevated electric railroad e\'er op- 
erated. Its success led to the electrical equip- 



66 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



ment of all of the ele\ated railroads in Chicago con\-ention in 1900 from the sixth congressional 

and the eastern cities. district. Mr. Sunny was married in 1878 to 

Mr. Sunny has always been a Republican in Miss Ellen Clifton Rhue. of Brooklyn. Xew 

politics, and was a delegate to the Philadelphia York. 



CLARENCE A. KNIGHT 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



The name of Clarence A. Knight has been so 
long and prominently conected with much of the 
imixirtant litigation occurring in Chicago' that he 
has l)ecome witlel\- kni iwn as a corjxjration law- 
yer, and his reputation as such is of the highest 
order. He has a genius for the law that is 
marked. His clear reasoning, logical deductions 
and familiarity with the law and precedents have 
enabled him to win nianv legal victories. 

Clarence A. Knight is a native of Illinois and 
was born in McHenry county, October 28, 1853. 
He ac(iuired his education in the schools near his 
home, afterward taking a course in the Normal 
School of Cook County, and following this de- 
voted his aiergies to teaching school. When 
nineteen years of age he came to Chicago and en- 
tered the law office of Spafford, McDaid & Wil- 
son, where he applied himself to the study of law, 
and was admitted U> the bar in 1874. upon ex- 
aminatinn before the su])renie cinu"t nf Illinois. 

In 1877 he formed a j^artnership with ]\Ir. 
IMcl'.aid, which existed until 1879, when he was 
.api^ointed assistant city attorney under Hon. 
Julius S. Grinnell. Five years later, upon Mr. 
'Grinnell's election as state's attorney. Mayor 
Flarrison appointed Mr. Knight to the office of 
citv attorney. In 1888 ]\Iayor Roche tendered 
him the office of assistant corporation counsel, and 
in this capacity he continued to ser\-e the city 
until 1889, when he resigned to engage in prixate 
practice. During the ten years of Mr. Knight's 
connection with the city law department many 
measures of great importance were enacted, the 



most prominent, perhaps, being the law permit- 
ting the annexation of Hyde Park, Lake View, 
Jefferson and a portion of Cicero to the city of 
Chicago. The original act having been declared 
unconstitutional. Mr. Knight prepared a bill to 
cover the case, which was passed by the legisla- 
ture in 1888-89. 

Upon Mr. Knight's retirement from public 
life, a partnership was formed with Mr. Paul 
ISrown. under the firm name of Knight & Drown. 
The firm handle a large general practice, includ- 
irig corporation law. 

In 1893 ^Ir. Knight was appointed general 
counsel of the Lake Street Elevated Railroad 
Companv, and in 1898 of the L'nion Elevated 
Railroad Company and Northwestern Elevated 
Railroad Company. As attorney for the Union 
Elevated Railroad Company he successfully con- 
ducted the litigation invohing the right to con- 
struct the "Union Loop." He is also president of 
the Lake Street Elevated Railroad. Mr. Knight 
is a member of the Union League Club. He also 
belongs to the Chevalier Bayard Commandery, 
Knights Templar, antl the Royal League. 

His manner of presenting a case in court im- 
presses those who listen with the feeling that he 
thoroughlv believes in the justice of the cause he 
is advocating. His cool dissection of tlie facts 
and law usually lead to success. 

In his private life Mr. Knight is the model of 
the thorough gentleman. His manners are cour- 
tecjus to all. his public and personal history is 
inseparably connected with the jurisprudence of 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



69 



the state of Illinois, and especially with Chicago Mr. Knight was married to Miss Dell Brown, 

and Cook county. His kindliness and life-long a daughter of Dr. Henry T. Brown, of McHenry, 

fidelity to friendship ha\-e attracted tO' him a wide Illinois, and they have two children, Bessie and 

circle of friends. James H. Knight. 



HON. JOHN H. BATTEN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

BY CAPT. WILLIAM I>. BLACK 



The subject of this sketch, Hon. John H. 
Batten, judge of the county court of Du Page 
county, and acting judge of the probate court oi 
Cook county, was born at Paddington, London, 
England. Jul}- 16, 1850. When but four years 
of age he was brought by his parents to Chi- 
cago, where he lived continuously thereafter un- 
til his removal to Napenalle, Du Page count}-, 
in 1875. But Judge Batten's removal t(.i Du 
Page county etTected only the matter of his resi- 
dence and his otficial activities. From the time 
of his admission to the bar in 187J, he has been 
identified with the profession of law in Chicago, 
and has been actively connected with the practice 
here during substantially that entire time. 

When at the age of four years Mr. Batten 
came with his father tO' the city of Chicago, it 
had then a population of about fifty-four thou- 
sand people. In due time Mr. Batten entered 
the Chicago public schools where he maintained 
a high record, not only for scholarship, but also 
for that courteous, gentlemanly and orderly man- 
ner which has been characteristic of him through- 
out his entire life. Fur a number of years, and 
as early as 1854. Mr. Batten's father was a clerk 
in the old county court of common pleas, out of 
which grew the present superior court oi Cook 
county, remaining continuoush- in that service 
for seventeen years. Naturally ^Ir. Batten 
turned to the law. After receiving his prelini- 
inary schooling in the Franklin and Newbury 
schools on the North Side, w-here he was a pupil 
of A. G. Lane, he attended Racine College. 



In the years 1868 and 1869 Mr. Batten was 
Judg"e Porter's minute clerk in the sujjcrior 
court. In the last mentioned year he entered 
the office of the well-known law firm (if Dent & 
Black, as a law student. While with them he 
was admitted to the bar, and he remained with 
them until 1877, when he opened an oftice for 
.himself in the old Major Block, now the Roanoke 
building, and continued in the successful practice 
of the law in Chicago until March, 1899. In 
the meantime he had twice been elected state's 
attorney for Du Page county, serving in that 
capacity fmm 1888 to 1896, and in June, 1897, 
\\as elected count}- judge of Du Page county, to 
fill the unex]iire(l term i;f Judge George W. 
Brown, who had been elected to the circuit 
bench. So satisfactorily did he meet the exact- 
ing requirements of the county judgeship, that 
he was re-elected thereto, in November, 1898, 
without opposition. For nearly twO' years, fol- 
lowing his election to the county judgeship of 
Du Page county, he was called upon to devote 
much of his time to- aiding Judge Carter in the 
discharge of the onerous judicial duties of the 
tiunty ciiurt of Cook county. But in March, 
1899, Judge Kohlsaat having been appointed 
L'nited States district judge for the northern 
district of Illinois, Judge Batten was selected to 
discharge the \-ery responsible duties of judge of 
the ])robate cou<rt of Cook count\-. and sd contin- 
ued to act as judge of that court until Decem- 
ber, 1900. 

In the early summer of the year 1900, when 



70 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



tlie question was to be determind as to who 
should be Judge Kohlsaat's successor to be elect- 
ed at the general election of that year, although 
Jr.dge Batten was at the time still maintaining 
his residence in Du Page county, a petition was 
circulated among the members of the bar of Cook 
county, which received the signatures of more 
than a thousand prominent and reputable attor- 
neys, asking him to become a candidate for the 
office of judge of the probate court of Cook 
county. Probably no higher compliment was 
ever paid to an)- man in connection with that 
ofifice, than this appeal to Judge Batten to be- 
come a candidate for the important and responsi- 
ble position of judge of the probate court of this 
county. That he was not selected for the office 
by his party was due solely to the question raised 
as to his eligibility therefor, and the fact that it 
was more in accordance with precedent to tender 
the nomination to a citizen of Cook county. 

Since the election and qualification of Judge 
Cutting, Mr. Batten has resumed active practice 
at the Chicago' bar. 

In all his official conduct, whether as state's 
attorney in his own county, or as judge of the 
county court thereof, or whether sitting to assist 
Judge Carter in the performance of the tluties 



(jf judge of the county court of Cook county, 
or finally while sitting as acting judge of the 
probate court of Cook county. Judge Batten's 
conduct has been characterized by tact and ability 
of a high order. He was a patient and intelli- 
gent listener, quick to discriminate between pre- 
tense and purpose, prompt and positive in de- 
ciding matters submitted for his determination, 
vigilant in watching the record of his court, and 
unyielding in his efforts to further the adminis- 
tration of justice. His conduct was marked 
by unvarying courtesy and manly independence. 

Now, in the very prime oi life, he has re- 
turned to the practice of law in Chicago. The 
judicial honors which he has borne with such 
creditable simplicity will undoubtedly be added 
to by a professional record even more success- 
ful than that of the past. 

On the 26th day of August, 1874, Judge Bat- 
ten married Miss Ida Haight at Naperville, Illi- 
nois. They have three children : Marion, who 
is now the wife of Albert Hayes Wetten, of Chi- 
cago; Percy Haight Batten, a mechanical en- 
gineer in the employ of the Chicago & North 
Western Railway Company, and Ralph Ells- 
worth Batten, a student in the law department 
of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. 



PAUL BROWN 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



Paul Brown, junior member of the firm of 
Knight & Brown, belongs to that class of lawyers 
whose professional life exalteth the profession. 
Mr. Brown is an Illinoisan by birth, having 
been born in McHenry county, the son of 
Dr. Henry T. and Almira ]\I. Brown. His father 
was one of the first settlers of Illinois, m(;\-ing 
from New York state, while the mother is a na- 
tive of Vermont. His primary and higher En- 
glish education was acquired in the common and 



high schools in his native county. Naturally of 
a studious mind, he learned thoroughly what- 
ever he found in the course of instruction, ob- 
taining a mental training that well equipped him 
for the exactions of the profession in which he 
now labors. After completing his education he 
came to Chicago, and studied law in the office of 
Hoyne, Horton & Hoyne, then one of the most 
prominent firms in Chicago. In the spring of 
1885 he was admitted to the bar, and a few 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



73 



months after lie was appointed master in chan- 
eery of the circuit court of Cook county — an 
unusual bestowal of confidence in the ability of 
one so young. So well did he meet the require- 
ments of the position, which in its duties and re- 
sponsibilities is wh(.illy judicial, that he was three 
times reappointed, in the fall of 1893, after eight 
years of service, he resigned in order to devote 
his entire time toi his private practice. In 1889 
he formed a partnership with Clarence A. 
Knight, an association that has been an especial- 
ly profitable one and which still continues, Mr, 
Brown is a man of quiet manners, with fixed con- 
victions, sterling integrity and a firm purpose to 
do right. He possesses a well-balanced judgment, 
keen sense of honor and a mind strongly concen- 
trated. As a lawyer he is distinguished for his 
thoroughness and careful attention in the prq>a- 
ration of his pleadings, his plain representation 
and logical arrangement of the issues involved. 
His terse and telling arguments, and, withal, his 



knowledge of the law, supplanented l>y an in- 
genuousness in stating its principles, inspires con- 
fidence, Mr, Brown, in connection with his part- 
ner', is especially noted for mastery of corporate 
law. They are the general solicitors for some of 
the most extensi\-e railway corporations in the 
west, and rare is the occasion when even partial 
defeat attends their efforts along this line of prac- 
tice. Mr. Brown is a close reasoner, and studies 
each case as if he ne\'er had one similar but ex- 
pected to have many more involving the same 
question. He is yet a young man in his profes- 
sion, but with the foundation so well laid there 
can be noi doubt as to the future. He is popular 
socially, and is a member of the Union League 
Club and Chicago Athletic Association. He is 
also a member of the Masonic order and of \-ari- 
ous other social and fraternal societies. 

He was married in 1888 to- Miss Grace A. 
Owen, daughter of O. W". Owen, of McHenry 
countv. Thev have two^ sons and one daughter. 



THOMAS H. WICKES 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Thomas H. Wickes, vice-president of the 
Pullman Company, with general offices at Chi- 
cago, is a man of great force of character, ability 
and integrity, and stands high with the company 
with which he has been connected for now some- 
thing like thirty-three years, 

Mr, Wickes was born at Leicestershire, Eng- 
land, August 28, 1846, and came from England 
early in life. He entered the railw&y service 
April I, 1868, and since which time he has been 
consecutively engaged as follows : From April, 
1868, to 1870, assistant to agent Pullman Palace 
Car Company, East St. Louis, Illinois : from 
1870 until May. 1873, assistant superintendent 



of the same company: May, 1873, to- May, 1885, 
superintendent of the St, Louis division ; from 
May, 1885, to September, 1886, general western 
superintendent located at Chicago; from Sep- 
tember, 1886, to January, 1889, he was general 
superintendent; from January i, 1889, to Octo- 
ber 15, 1896. he occupied the jwsition of second 
vice-president in connection with the operating 
department; and from October 15, 1896, tO' the 
present date he has been vice-president of the 
same company, and its successor, the Pullman 
Company. 

Mr. W'lickes stands high in railroad circles, 
and it can be said that almost his entire life has 



■j\ PROMIXEXT MEN OF THE GREAT \\"EST 

been devoted to the Pullman Q.miiany and its never a seeker or holder of public office, has given 

business, and in tlie several positions which he ],is p^rty all the support he could possibly tender, 

has held he has attained marked eminence. He is a valued member of several social clubs of 

Mr. Wickes is a strong Republican, and while Chicago. 



CHARLES EDWARD KREMER 



CHICAGU, ILL. 

BY COL. ROBERT RAE 




Like most men in the west who liave dis- 
tinguished themselves in their chosen career, Mr. 
Kremer is emphatically a self-made man. Upon 
coming tO' Chicago he placed his ideal in his pro- 
fession at a very high standard and lalxjred both 
day and night to reach this ideal. 
He is a man of studious habits 
and Ijrimful of fun. In his main 
composition he unites severe logi- 
cal ability with a lively imagina- 
tion and with a humor that 
reminds one of the old type of 
black-letter lawyer who, in a 
most sex'cre and didactic dis- 
course, which knits the brow of 
the judge to keep the line of his argument, 
gives out a flash of humor and wit that sets court 
arid audience in a broad smile. These jeu 
d'esprit are always cognate and grow out of the 
subject in hand, and are never forced, or what is 
sometimes termed far-fetched. In admiralty law 
he deservedly stands in the first rank of his pro- 
fession. He is also a standard authority on in- 
surance law and has been the adviser of some of 
the leading underwriters in the northwest. He 
has many friends and few, if any, enemies. 
Every one says "God bless him," and no one is 
envious of his success ; indeed, his success has 
l:)een above competition, and, therefore, beyond 
envy. As a story-teller at after-dinner parties it 
is not saying too much when one says that he is 
quite as good in his line as Chauncey Depew, who, 



by the by, he very much in personal appearance 
resembles. He is a good German scholar, and has 
made considerable progress in French, and has a 
facility for mastering these languages which is 
very rare. In the last ten years he has tried more 
admiralty cases than all the rest of the profession 
in. Chicago put together, and with marked suc- 
cess. His tact and urbanity has won for him 
and his family a good social position. He is now 
in the prime and vigor of life and is broadening 
his professional career by taking up a general 
practice. His knowledge of men, his good sense 
and excellent judgment make him a very formid- 
able jury lawyer. Added to these accomplish- 
ments, his reputation for integrity is unblem- 
ished. This gives him great weight before the 
courts. He is frank, open and just to his clients, 
to his opponents and to the courts. He is not a 
technical practitioner and ne\'er takes an unfair 
advantage of his opponent. 

It is hardly a proper thing to build statues or 
monuments to living men or bestow upon them 
eulogies ; men must purchase these by death. It 
closes the gates of life and opens the door to en- 
during fame, if at the end one has achieved it. 
If we can judge of the past and the present, 
when time reckons into mortality he will be 
cheerfully accorded a high niche in the galaxy of 
distinguished .Vmerican lawyers, whose life has 
not been spent in vain, but has added something 
to the dignity and honor of a profession rich in 
honorable records. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



75 



Charles E. Kremer was born in Oshkosh, 
Wisconsin, December 23, 1850, and is a son of 
Michael J. and Agatha Kremer, who were both 
born in Germany. He was educated at the com- 
mon and high schools of his native city. In 1871 
he entered the office of H. H. & G. C. Markham, 
of Milwaukee, as a law student, and was admitted 
to the bar at Milwaukee, October 23, 1874. 

He came to Chicago in May, 1875, and has 
practiced here ever since. Mr. Kremer is a mem- 
ber of several social clubs and organizations, 
among them being the Union League, Illinois, 



Hamilton, Twentieth Century, Law and Chi- 
cago Yacht Clubs. He has traveled much in the 
United States and throughout Europe. Poli- 
cally he is a Republican. He has served as a pri- 
vate in the First Regiment, I. N. G. 

Mr. Kremer was married May 2, 1877, to 
Miss Margaret A. Collins, daughter of Thomas 
Collins, of Oswego, New York. They have one 
daughter, Eugenie. 

This short biography is a testimonial of his 
principal competitor in the maritime law, and his 
friend. 



ELMER ELLSWORTH VAUGHAN, M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Dr. E. E. Vaughan has stood in the front 
ranks of his profession in Chicago for many 
years. He is a man of marked ability and deep 
human sympathies, with a genius for his pro- 
fession, and earnestness of purpose, and capacity 
for work; these are but a few of 
his dominating characteristics. 

Dr. Elmer E. Vaughan was 
born on August 18, 1865, in 
Woodbury, Washington county, 
^■^k Vermont, and is a son of Isaac 

H^ ^Hk Chase Vaughan and Lacinda 
^^m Thayer (Blake) Vaughan. His 
■mf^ early life started with hard work. 

In order to obtain his school 
books he began work at the age of eight years. 
He worked during his vacations from that time 
on up to the age of fifteen years. He was em- 
ployed on a farm from the age of eleven to fif- 
teen years, and from fifteen to twenty years ex- 
cept three months in the winter, and during this 
time the first two years were spent at school and 
the last three teaching school, he was employed 
by ex-Governor Page of Vermont, who then had 
the largest hide business in the world. There he 




became proficient in what is known as the calf 
skin business. At the age of eighteen he began 
teaching school, using his spare time for medical 
study, then went to Boston, Massachusetts, where 
he was employed as a male nurse in The City 
Hospital, in which he made rapid progress, and 
w-as quickly promoted to a position of import- 
ance. In the year 1887 he came to Chicago and 
entered the Hahnemann Medical College, from 
which he graduated in 1889. Since graduation, 
he has practiced in Chicago, principally on the 
North Side. 

Dr. Vaughan was treasurer of the Belden 
.A.venue Baptist Church from 1890 to 1895, and 
chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1895 
up to the present time. He was president of the 
Chicago Baptist Hospital Training School for 
Nurses for six years, from 1891 to 1897. He 
was financial secretary and business manager of 
the Baptist Hospital from 1894 to 1897; he was 
surgeon to the Baptist Hospital from 1893 to 
1898. Dr. Vaughan is connected with the Royal 
Arcanum as one of the medical examiners, and 
general surgeon of the St. Hedwig's Hospital. 
He is also a member of the Twentieth Ward Re- 



76 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



publican Club, Illinois Homeopathic Medical As- . 
sociation, and Chicago Medical Society. In re- 
ligion he is a Baptist and politically he is a Re- 
publican. 

Dr. Vaughan was married December 25, 
1890, to Miss Dora L. Beecher, of Johnson, Ver- 
mont. Miss Beecher was for several years prior 
to her marriage private secretary for the Hon- 
orable R. S. Page, Judge of the Probate Court, 
also Clerk of the Court and Notary Public in 
the town of Hyde Park, Vermont. They have 
two children, Lillian Marjorie and Ruth Violet, 
aged eight and two years. 



Dr. Vaughan stands high among his profes- 
sional brethren. Outside of his professional life 
he e.xhibits many rare qualities. He is a man 
of unusual sympathy and he shows his friends 
and others a noble nature. While of rather re- 
served temperament, his conversation shows 
broad culture and wide acquaintance with litera- 
ture, and these attributes, added to the genial 
humor so characteristic of him, greatly endear 
him to those fortunate enough to be admitted 
to his friendship. He is a most companionable 
and cultured man. He is a tireless worker and 
a man who never relaxes his energy. 



JOHN P. WILSON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



John P. Wilson, a distinguished lawyer of 
Chicago, widely recognized in his profession as 
one of the ablest living authorities on corporation 
and real-estate law, is a man of marked individu- 
ality and independence of thought and action. 
His sterling honesty and integrity win for him 
the respect and esteem of the highest and hum- 
blest, the richest and the poorest. As a lawyer of 
high talent and ability his standing is unques- 
tioned. 

Mr. Wilson was born in the township of 
Garden Plains, Whiteside county, Illinois, July 
3, 1844. He is a son of Thomas Wilson, a 
Scotchman, who came to America from his native 
land in 1833 ''"^ settled in Illinois, where he en- 
gaged in farming, coutinuing in that pursuit un- 
til 1880. when he removed tO' Evanston, where he 
continued to reside until liis death, which oc- 
curred in 1883. His wife, the mother of John P. 
WiLson, was Margaret (Laughlin) Wilson, a na- 
tive of Pennsylvania, but of Scotch ancestry. 

Mr. Wilson by making the best of the limited 
opportunities at his command, at his native place. 



and supplementing the instructions thus received 
by close personal application to his books at night 
and such other times as opportunity afforded, 
managed to fit himself for higher studies, and by 
the time he was seventeen years of age had en- 
tered Kno.x College, at Galesburg, Illinois, with 
a firm determination to secure a classical edu- 
cation. 

In 1865, a few days before attaining his ma- 
jority, he was graduated with the degree of bach- 
elor of arts at Kno.x College. After graduating 
he taught scIiodI at Galesburg, in connection with 
the college, and in the district schools at Garden 
Plains during the years 1865 and 1866, and stud- 
ied law mornings and evenings. Frugal of his 
time, he devoted all his spare time during these 
years to the study of law, looking in at court oc- 
cassionally and turning over in his mind the pros 
and cons of such cases as came under his observa- 
tion. In the spring of 1867, having passed the 
required examination before the proper board of 
examiners, he was admitted tO' the Illinois bar, 
and coming to the city of Chicago, entered the 



■IS^ i 





¥,, 



f. 




>C 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



79 



law office of Borden, Spafford & McDaid, and 
upon the dissolution of said firm spent twO' years 
in the office of John Borden. In 1870 the law 
firm of Spafford, ]\IcUaid & Wilson was or- 
ganized. After passing through many changes 
of partnership, he is now the senior member of 
the firm of Wilson, Moore & Mcllvaine, one of 
the strongest law firms in Chicago. 

Mr. Wilson's practice has been of a general 
character. He has devoted himself with such 
earnestness to the study of his profession that 
there are few, if any, of its intricacies which he 
has not mastered. In the department of corpora- 
tion and real-estate law he is especially skillful, 
and his widest fame rests upon the Specialties 
which have of recent years become the most im- 
portant, and probably the most lucrative of any 
class of practice in Chicago, and whose compli- 
cated interests demand ability of the highest 
order. 

Some of the most prominent men and cor- 
porations of Illinois and neighboring states are 
numbered among his clients, and the involved 
cases which he has conducted to successful com- 
pletion have shown a complete mastery of the sub- 
ject, thorougli and precise preparation and most 
skillful and diligent research. He is so well 
versed in his special departments of the law that 
his knowledge is always ready for use, and his 
familiarity with principle and precedent is one of 
the potent elements in his success. 

When the promoters of the great sanitary 
district of Chicago were in the midst of their fight 
to secure the undertaking of the stupendous work 
of civil engineering that will rank among the first 
of the world, they chose Mr. Wilson to draft the 
law which created it and retained him to defend 
its constitutionality when the fight was on in 
that direction. His success is now a matter of 
history. In 1890, when the World's Columbian 
Exposition Company was in the midst of its vast 
operations to put that greatest of exhibitions on 



foot, Mr. Wilson was elected general counsel, and 
the constitutional amendment and legislation of 
the special sessions of the general assembly of 
1890 were drafted under his personal supervision. 
Mr. \Vilson is one of those men whose sole am- 
bition is to excel in their vocation; tO' this end he 
has labored with all energ).- at his command and 
has allowed nothing to tempt him tO' abandon this, 
his supreme purpose. As a lawyer he stands be- 
fore the public occupying one of the highest niches 
in the profession. He has that tnie Scotch grit 
in his mental composition, and sticks tO' study and 
w^ork with a pertinacity which has enabled him 
to accomplish wonders in the way of acquiring 
legal knowledge. His intellect is superlatively 
clear, his perception keen, and his power of con- 
centration and application extraordinary. He has 
the faculty o-f analysis beyond most men, and de- 
tects and avoids snares and complications of a 
legal character with surprising facility. Speaking 
of Mr. Wilson, one of the most distinguished law- 
yers of Chicago said : "He is essentially a nat- 
ural lawyer, content with the honors and emolu- 
ment of his proifession and the gratification of 
his scholarly tastes, he seeks no public office, and, 
while giving freely and gratuitously such aid as 
may be required of him in benificent and char- 
itable public movements, he does so with no other 
motive than a sense of duty. His nature is of that 
modest retiring kind that does good by stealth. 
There is no vanity whatever in his composition, 
unless it be to do his appointed work well ; and 
to that end he concentrates his every power. A 
man of irreproachable habits and pure character, 
as well as honorable professional ambition, he 
enjoys the friendship and confidence of the most 
eminent of his fellow citizens." Mr. Wilson was 
uriited in marriage on April 25, 1871, to Miss 
Margaret C. Mcllvaine, of Chicago, Illinois, 
daughter of J. D. Mcllvaine. They have five 
children, Margaret C, Martha, John P., Jr., 
Anna M. and Agnes Wilson. 



8o 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



TRUMAN WILLIAM BROPHY, M. D., D. D. S., LL D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Dr. Brophy is oi' Irish-English descent, liis 
parents, WilHani and Amelia (Cleveland) Bro- 
phy, being- natives of Hemmingford, Quebec. 
When his parents were children, their families 
moved together to the rich agricultural and fruit 
lands near Newcastle, near Toronto, thence, to 
Aurora, Kane county, Illinois, and later, to Will 
■county southwest erf Chicago. 

Previous to this William Brophy had visited 
the small village set down in the mud at the 
mouth of the Chicago river. Chicago of 1835 
was mostly located on the north side of the river. 

The youth was not favorably impressed with 
the Chicago' of those days, and returned to his 
home in Canada, where on June 22, 1843, 'i^ 
w^as married to Amelia Cleveland. Thus, the 
two, who since infancy had been playmates and 
friends, entered into a lifelong partnership. 
Coming west in 1844, locating in Will county, 
the young husband then found the hustling Chi- 
cago a little city of quite intense interest. Here 
he was enabled to secure quite profitable con- 
tracts as a carpenter. 

The district in Will county which had been 
settled by quite a colony, composed of Mr. Bro- 
phy's friend and family, with other friends and 
relatives, proved somewhat unhealthy and a move 
was made to Goodings Grove, a short distance 
northeast of Lockport. Here William Brophy 
bought the farm upon whicli was born his son, 
Truman, on the 12th of April, 1848. In the 
early Chicago days — during the 'forties and 
'iifties — Reuben Cleveland, brother of William 
Erophy's wife, was quite a figure in the local 
annals of Chicago. The firm of Cleveland & 
Russell, of which he was the senior partner, rep- 
resented, perhaps, the largest general contractors 
in this part of the country. In fact, when Chi- 
cago was a city of wood, there were few sections 



where evidences of the firm's enterprise and 
handicraft did not abound. Along Madison, 
Clark, Halstead and State streets, they erected 
whole rows of frame structures, and for years 
their planing mills and their sash, door and blind 
factories did an immense business, but the panic 
of 1857 caught them with their enterprises ex- 
panded bej'ond the limits of safety, and carried 
them under with thousands of their fellows. 

yir. Cleveland was at one time superintend- 
ent of public works, and it was he who organized 
the Masonic lodge which bears his name. Dur- 
ing the war he was an officer in the famous 
Eighth Illinois Cavalry, commanded by Col. John 
F. Farnsworth. 

It was some years, however, jiefore Mr. 
Brophy located in Chicago with his family. 
After living for two years on the farm at Good- 
ings Grove, the little colony, of which his family 
was a part, suffered an epidemic of malarial 
fever, which proved fatal to several members 01 
the community. This sad circumstance induced 
him to remove his increasing flock to Elgin, 
wliere he secured a contract to construct a sec- 
tion of the Chicago & Galena Railroad. The 
next mo\-e was to St. Charles, Illinois, whence, 
after providing the family with a comfortable 
home, the father (in 1852) started across the 
western plains, alone, to seek gold and a fortune in 
California. The excitement was then at high tide 
and Mr. Brophy, who had accumulated a small 
competency, was in such good circumstances that 
he was enabled to give the gold diggings a fair 
test of two years. Fortime favored him and he 
returned to St. Charles, Illinois, in December, 
1854. and purchased a fine farm west of the 
village, living there until 1866, when he moved 
to Chicago. 

At this time Truman was in his nineteenth 






/^^2^t>^<^-7^<^^i-^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



83 



year, and had received a good common-school 
and academic education in the institutions of St. 
Charles, and the Elgin Academy, when his fa- 
ther moved to Chicago. He was enabled to pur- 
sue literary courses both at Dyrenfurths Business 
College and the Atheneum. In the Spring- of 
1867 he entered the office of Dr. J. O. Farns- 
worth. The course then pursued by a would-be 
dentist, was tO' enter the office of a practitioner, 
and, after obtaining a variable amount of theoret- 
ical knowledge and practical experience, to enter 
intO' practice himself. Thus, at first, the young 
student followed the custom, and soon proved so 
apt a pupil that his preceptor, during an illness 
of several months" duration, which finally re- 
sulted in his death, virtually placed his business 
in Truman's hands. The young pupil succeeded 
to Dr. Farnsworth's practice and by 1871 was 
in quite prosperous circumstances. The fire of 
1 8/ I swept away nearly all of his earthly pos- 
sessions, with the exception of a small bank de- 
posit, and he had to decide upon a future course. 
He made up his mind before resuming practice 
to study the most modern methods of his pro- 
fession, going to Philadelphia, at that time, per- 
haps, the most important center of medical and 
dental education in America. Until the spring of 
1872 he pursued a regular course in the Penn- 
sylvania College of Dental Surgery, from which 
he graduated with the degree of D. D. S., and 
also took special courses in pathology and sur- 
gery in the medical department of the University 
■of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania General Hos- 
pital, the Blockley Hospital and the Jefferson 
Medical College. He took back to Chicago com- 
mendatory certificates from all of these institu- 
tions, and ag^in commenced the practice of his 
profession ; but meeting cases which required a 
more extended knowledge than he had acquired, 
he, in 1878, pursued a regular medical and sur- 
gical course at Rush College, from which he 
:graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1880. 
Dr. Brophy had been elected president of his 



class, and his career had been marked by such 
distinguished features that almost immediately 
ujxjn graduating he was chosen by the faculty 
to the professorship of Dental Pathology and 
Surgery. 

In the summer of 1882 Dr. Brophy took the 
initiative steps towards the founding of the Chi- 
cago College of Dental Surgery. Its first regular 
course began in March, 1883, and has since 
grown to such proportions that it is the largest 
dental college in the world. Dr. Brophy per- 
sistently urged the selection of the present site, 
corner Wood and Harrison streets, upon the 
board of management, and was solely instru- 
mental in raising the money for the erection of 
the building. Since the founding of the college 
Dr. Brophy has been at the head of its faculty. 
He has also been connected with the Central Free 
Dispensary of Rush Medical College for many 
vears, and is still its consulting surgeon. Dr. 
Brophy is ex-president of the Odontological and 
Dental societies of Chicago' and is a member oi 
the Chicago Medical, Pathological, Medico- 
Legal, Odontographic and many other dental and 
medical societies, state and national in their 
scope. Furthermore, he is ex-president of the 
section of Dental and Oral Surgery, American 
Medical Association, which was suggested by 
him and organized chiefly through his efforts. 
He is also connected with a number of organiza- 
tions not allied to either dentistry or medicine, 
such as the Union League, Illinois Club and the 
Chicago Athletic Association. 

Dr. Brophy is a constant contributor to pro- 
fessional literature, but the active duties of his 
calling consume so much of his time and strength 
that he has essayed, as yet, nothing in book form. 
Mention should here be made of one of the great- 
est honors conferred upon him in the form of 
the degree of LL. D., which he received from 
the Lake Forest University at the commencement 
day in 1895. 

On May 8, 1873, Dr. Brophy was married 



84 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



to Emma J. Mason, daughter of Caiiile Mason 
of Chicago, president of the Excelsior Iron 
Works. They have three daughters and one son. 
Dr. Brophy was appointed by the United States 



government as the representative of tlie United 
States at the International Dental Congress held 
at Paris, France, in August, 1900, and has also 
held numerous other honorary appointments. 



HENRY BEST 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



The name of Henry Best, one of the early resi- 
dents of Chicago, is of necessity perpetuated in 
the history of his native city, with which he and 
his father before him have been identified for so 
many years. Mr. Best is a man of decided char- 
acteristics; he is self reliant in all his actions, 
and possessed of fo'-ce and indomitable perse- 
verance. The public has been well justified in 
crediting him with possessing integrity and sin- 
cerity, and his achievments and posts of honor 
are the result of merit alone. 

Henry Best was born near the corner of In- 
diana avenue and Fourteenth street, Chicago, Illi- 
nois, which was then known as Weldon Station, 
December 22, 1848. His father, Mathias Best, 
was born in Pfalz, Bavaria, and came to Chicago 
from Berlin, Germany, in 1839. His mother, 
Annie M. (Homan) Best, was born at Hesse Cassel 
and lived to be seventy-two years of age. She 
died in 1890. She was a member of the Ger- 
man Old Settlers Association, and possessed the 
medal the association presented to the oldest Ger- 
man-speaking resident. 

Mathias Best arrived at Chicago in 1839, 
and in 1840 we find him with a factory for the 
manufacture of vinegar. In 1841 he established 
the first lager beer brewery in Chicago, located 
at 717-721 Indiana avenue. He was well known 
as a stanch Democrat, a personal friend and 
ardent admirer of Stephen A. Douglas for the 
presidency. He was the father of seven sons 
and twO' daughters, Henry Best being the third 
son. Mathias Best died October 22, 1874, in his 
sixty-seventh year. Mr. Best now has in his 



possession the sword worn by his father (who 
was a colonel in the T^Iexican war), which he 
prizes highly. 

Henry Best early in life showed that strong 
spirit that has been the underlying' power which 
has made him sO' successful throughout his ca- 
reer. His first employment was in his father's 
brewery, going to work at three a. m. and to 
school at eight a. m., returning to work after 
school hours and continuing until late at night. 
He at first attended Mrs. Fox's public school in 
1855, then, the only one south of Harrison street 
— afterwards spending four 3-ears at the Mosely 
School, then going to the Haven School in 1861. 
.\t the breaking out of tne war he ran away from 
home and enlisted as a drummer boy in the One 
Hundred and Thirty-fourth Illinois Infantry, but 
was overhauled by his father at Cairo, Illinois, 
and brought back home. At seventeen years of 
age he was a fine athlete and took many prizes 
for diving and swimming. When nineteen years 
old, he won the champion medal of the northwest 
as the best skater. When twenty-one years of 
age, in 1869, he was an active member of the 
Southside Turners. 

When seventeen years old he engaged with 
T D. Randall in the commission business at the 
corner of State and Washington streets and con- 
tinued there for three years, after which, he 
s])ent one year with R. H. Counters in the gro- 
cer\- business. His father having sold out his 
brewery and rented the building to J. L. Hobart 
for a tobacco manufactury, the young man en- 
gaged with this concern as shipping clerk, and 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



in one year had worked his w^)- np to fore- 



man. 



In 1872 lie was waited on by a committee, 
wlio' notified him of his nomination, on the Peo- 
ple's ticket, for constable. It was a case of the 
office seeking the man, as up to that time he had 
taken nO' interest in politics, and he positively re- 
fused the nomination. He was left on the ticket, 
however, and was elected by a large majority, 
but did not serve until a year after. He then 
made his headquarters in Justice Haines" office 
and transacted a large business. In 1876 he was 
re-elected on the Republican ticket. He at this 
time had a grocery store on State street at the 
■corner of Thirty-first. He served this time as 
■constable for two years. 

In 1878 he was appointed baililT under Sher- 
iff Hoffman and served one year, and was then 
promoted to clerk of the grand jury. He was 
appointed deputy sheriff under Sheriff Mann, in 
1880, and served two years. In 1882 he was a 
■candidate for coroner against C. H. Harris of 
his own ward and carried the ward delegation. 
His friends claimed three votes majority for him 
in the convention, but the nomination was award- 
■ed Harris by three majority. After the election 
he was appointed deputy sheriff', under Sheriff 
Hanchette, and served two' years. While deputy 
sheriff he was presented with a diamond star, 
which he much prizes. In 1884 he was made the 
Republican nominee for clerk of the circuit court 
of Cook county, receiving twO' hundred and fif- 
teen votes in the convention and defeating Emil 
Hoechster, Democrat, in the election by seven 
thousand six hundred and seventy-six votes, re- 
ceiving the highest majority of any candidate on 
the South Side, and carrying his own ward by 
two thousand nine hundred and ninety-two votes, 
and rtmning ahead of James G. Blaine in the 
ciiuntry towns. He was re-elected in 1888, 
serving until his time expired in 1892. He 
received the nomination as clerk both times 
"by acclamation. At the expiration of his 



terms as clerk of the circuit court hfr'was pre- 
sented by the law reporters and-' abstract men 
with a finely engraved set of resolutions, express- 
ing their esteem lor him and highly praising his 
work as clerk of the circuit court for Cook coun- 
ty for the eight years he served as such, and also 
with a set of resolutions, handsomely engraved, 
from his employes who served with him for the 
eight years while he was clerk, both of which 
he has preserved and had framed and hung up in 
his home. In 1893 he was elected south-town 
assessor and in 1894 was re-elected, his assess- 
ments being much higher than his predecessors, 
and his expenses much less. Mr. Best went 
through six campaigns and always ran ahead of 
his ticket, never being defeated, and twice was 
the only candidate elected on his ticket. This 
was as South-town assessor in 1893 and 1894. 

Mr. Best is able, energetic and popular and 
lias fulfilled the duties of his various offices in a 
manner beyond criticism. While serving as 
constable he did a great amount of notable de- 
tective work. In one instance he seized the re- 
nowned Cremona of the famous violist, Remenye, 
and also carried the celebrated Madame Vioslow- 
sky diamond case to a successful conclusion. 

Mr. Best lived in the place of his birth, in 
the old second ward, for twenty-four years and 
was a resident of the old fourth for twenty-three 
years. He resides at No. 4402 Michigan av- 
enue in an elegant house. He owns considerable 
\'aluable Chicago' real estate, including several 
fine, large, modern apartment buildings, which 
he built upon property he owned. He has al- 
ways dealt in real estate, more or less, and has 
purchased, built up' and sold many pieces of it. 
During the World's Columbian Exposition, and 
for a short time prior to it, he bought and sold 
much property. 

He is deserving of great credit from the fact 
that he has done his share, if not much more 
than one man's share, in building up Chicago, 
and had been a property owner and tax-payer 



88 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



since he was twenty-one years of age. He has 
always been a Republican and ever since his ma- 
jority been an active worker for his party. For 
seven years he was a leading member of the Cook 
County Republican Club, was town and sena- 
torial committeeman, and for years city, county 
and congressional committeeman. He is a char- 
ter member of Court Energy, Independent Order 
of Foresters, and was its financial secretary for 
two terms. A charter member of Garfield Lodge, 
Ancient Order of the United Workmen, and held 
the ot?ice of overseer; a member of Dearborn 
Lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 310; and also Lafay- 
ette Chapter, Blue Lodge, Freemasons, and of 
Chevalier Bayard Commandery, Knights Tem- 



plar, and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is 
also a member of the Hamilton Club. 

Mr. Best is one of the solid financial men of 
the city and the record of his life is indelibly 
written in the annals of Chicago. Mr. Best was 
married April 7, 1870, tO' Miss Minnie Myers, 
who was born in New York and who came to 
Chicago at an early age. They have three chil- 
dren, two sons and a daughter, Minnie, now Mrs. 
Stratman, and Charles and Harry Best. They 
also have four grand children. 

Mrs. Stratman, the daughter, was the win- 
ner of the prize medal during her girlhood at 
the Gotschalk Lyric School out of a class of about 
thirty-six. 



CHARLES A. DUPEE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



The late Charles A. Dupee, at the time of his 
death the senior member of the law firm of 
Dupee, Judah, Willard & Wolf, was a member of 
the Chicago bar for over forty years and a resi- 
dent of the city for the same period. He was 
born at West Brookfield, Massachusetts, in May, 
1 83 1, and was a son of Jacob and Lydia (Wether- 
bee) Dupee. He was prepared for college in 
the best schools, and at the age of nineteen entered 
the freshman class at Yale, from which institu- 
tion he graduated in June, 1854, with the degree 
of A. M. Shortly after graduation Mr. Dupee 
came to Chicago and engaged in teaching at the 
Edwards Academy, but this position he resigned 
a year or so later in order to spend some time in 
travel. On his return he was elected principal 
of one of the pubhc schools, and the following 
year he accepted a similar position in the first 
high school organized in Chicago. After four 
years of teaching Mr. Dupee resigned and en- 
tered the law department of the Harvard Uni- 
versity, where he completed the specified two- 
years' course in one. He then returned to Chi- 



cago and continued his studies in the law office 
of Gallup & Hitchcock. A year later he was ad- 
mitted to the bar. 

After graduation he at once began the prac- 
tice of law, and although he was not connected 
with any leader of the bar, he attracted clients 
from the very beginning. Increasing business 
made it best that he associate himself with others, 
and accordingly he practiced with Jacob A. Cram 
for a year and then organized the firm of Hitch- 
cock, Dupee (S: Evarts. Eight years later Air. 
Evarts retired and the firm continued as Hitch- 
cock & Dupee until the admission of Mr. Noble 
B. Judah. 

Mr. Hitchcock died in 1881 and the surviv- 
ing members associated with themselves Monroe 
L. Willard, under the firm name of Dupee, Judah 
& Willard, which continued as such until the 
admission of Mr. Henry M. Wolf some years 
later. 

Mr. Dupee was first married in 1863 to Miss 
Jennie Wells, daughter of Henry G. Wells, one 
of the early settlers of this city. The surviving 





^^-^f^s^^^c^—-! - <Ou .^^^Cx^L 



iLJU2^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



91 



children of this marriage, Eugene and George 
W. Dupee, are practicing law in Chicago, and a 
daug'hter, Elaine, is the wife of William P. Sid- 
ley, also an attorney here. Some years after the 
death of his first wife Mr. Dupee married Miss 
Bessie Nash, a niece of the famous poet, author 
and newspaper writer, DoH Piatt; surviving him 



of his second marriage are five young children, 
three girls and two boys. 

Mr. Dupee wae a lawyer of great repute and 
profound knowledge. No man in Chicago was 
more widely known and respected. Mr. Dupee 
died March 26, 1902, leaving many warm and 
faithful friends. 



JOHN W. ELA 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Hon. John W. Ela, of Chicago, is a native 
of New Hampshire, and was born in 1840 in the 
town of Meredith, ora the shore of Lake Win- 
nepesaukee. His boyhood and youth were passed 
in New England, and having detennined to en- 
ter the legal profession, he prepared for the bar 
at the Harvard Law School and in the office of 
Judge Samuel W. Rollins, of Meredith. He 
commenced the practice of law at Plymouth, New 
Hampshire, and was gradually building up a 
good clientage when the Civil war was inaugur- 
ated, and in 1863 he enlisted in the Union army, 
assisted in raising Company B, of the Fifteenth 
New Hampshire Volunteers, became Captain of 
that Company and served until his regiment was 
mustered out at the end of his term. 

Attracted by the west, Mr. Ela came to Chi- 
cago, and has for more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury been a member of the bar of that city and 
one of the most prominent and successful law- 
yers of the state. He framed the Illinois civil 
service law, the first law of that character passed 
by a western state, and was at the head of the 
movement which resulted in its passage by the 
legislature and its adoption by the city of Chi- 
cago. Wlien he drafted the bill Mr. Ela was 
president of the Chicago Civil Service Reform 
Association, and was an earnest and active 
worker in the organization of which he was the 
head. He labored almost continuously for the 
merit system, from the time the idea \Mas put be- 
fore the people of the west lantil it became a law. 



and his capability to handle this subject resulted 
not only from a broad knowledge of the law 
and the needs of purity in politics, but also from 
study and investigation into the subject of civil 
sei-\-ice in the community — city, state and na- 
tional — where it was in operation. Probably no 
man in the city is better informed than John W. 
Ela. He has for some years been an active mem- 
ber of the executive committee of the National 
Civil Service Reform League, of which league 
George William Curtis was one of the founders 
and the first vice-president, and of which Carl 
Schurz was until recently president. Mr. Ela 
was one of the counsel, before the supreme court 
of this state, who argued for the constitutionality 
of the Illinois Act. He was counsel for the civil 
service commission of Chicago, in the case 
against the board of education of Chicago, in 
which Judge Tuley, of the circuit court, decided 
that that board must come under the civil serv- 
ice law, and he argued the case for the commis- 
sion before the supreme bench, upon the appeal 
by the board. He was counsel for the civil serv- 
ice commission in the suit against the secretary 
of the commission of public works of Chicago, 
to compel the giving of testimony before the 
commission, in which suit the constitutionality 
of that provision of the law was attacked by the 
defense. He was also counsel for the commis- 
sion in the mandamus suits in the supreme court 
to compel the appointments to positions in the 
offices of the citv collector, citv clerk, citv treas- 



92 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



iirer and city comptruller, to be made under the 
provisions of the act : claiming that the act covers 
all these offices, and he made the argument in that 
court for the commission. 

Mr. Ela was president of the police commis- 
sion (the other members being John H. Hamline 
and Harry Reubens) appointed by Mayor Hop- 
kins in 1894 to put the Chicago police depart- 
ment under the merit system; which commission 
made the first application of the reform in Chi- 
cago, and gave the people an object lesson of its 
benefits. Among the other matters of a public 
nature in which Mr. Ela has been counsel. ma\- 
be mentioned his appointment by Governor Alt- 
geld to assist in the defense of the state, in the 
supreme court, in the combined attack upon the 
constitutionality of the state factory law ; in- 
volving the question, among others, of the valid- 
ity of the provision establishing an "eight-hour 
day" for women. 

In 1895 he was employed by the Chicago 
Times-Herald tO' go to Springfield as its coimsel 
and render opinions on proposed laws pending 
in the legislature. There was considerable ex- 
citement during that session over the veto, by 
Gnvernor Altgeld, of several bills favoring cer- 
tain classes, or corporations, claimed to ha\-e 
been passed by corrupt means, and the efforts 
of their friends to pass them over the veto, and 
of supposed comipt bills still pending. The 
Times-Herald employed i\Ir. Ela to go to Spring- 
field to examine the vetoed bills and all proposed 
measures which could affect the public, and give 



his unbiased opinions upon such measures and 
their et¥ect if they should become laws. These 
opinions were published in that journal from time 
to time until the close of the session. It was a 
session noted as a "record breaker" in alleged at- 
tempt to accomplish corrupt legislation. As to 
the results of the efforts of Mr. Ela and the 
Times-Herald, it is only fair to say that, not- 
withstanding the extraordinary activity of the 
friends of the vetoed bills (which were all op- 
posed by these opinions, and by the paper), not 
one of them was passed o\-er the veto, and 
scarcely one of the measures denounced in the 
opinions and the paper has yet become a law. 
Th.ere was considerable itidignation expressed by 
some of the legislators at first on the assumption 
that Mr. Ela came there to watch over them ; but, 
as the character of his services developed, there 
was general commendation of the work he was 
accomplishing. 

While a Democrat in national politics, Mr. 
Ela has always been opposed to carr}-ing party 
politics into local elections. He has actively sup- 
ported every "citizen's movement"' in the city 
elections of Chicago. He has been a member of 
the executive committee of the Civic Federation 
and its vice-president; was chairman of the com- 
mittee which prosecuted the election frauds : vice- 
president of the Army and Navy League, which 
did such ef¥ecti\-e work in assisting Chicago 
soldiers and their families during the war with 
Spain, and has been president of the Chicago 
Philosophical Society. 



NOBLE BRANDON JUDAH 

CHICAGO. ILL. 

BY EDWARD O. BROW^ 

Mr. Noble B. Judah comes of distinguished the state of Indiana was created out of the north- 
legal ancestry. He was born at Vincennes, Indi- western territory, and was at the time of Noble 
ana, September 7, 1851. Samuel Judah. his Judah's birth and for years afterward one of the 
father, had settled in Vincennes immediately after most distinguished lawyers of the west. Not 




>I^^-^-& i&y)u cL0ji_y 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



95 



only was lie a leader mf the bar, but in politics 
he ranked with the most eminent Whig statesmen 
of his time, having been defeated for United 
States Senator by only one vote. He there mar- 
ried a daughter of one of the earliest settlers 
from Virginia to tlie nurtlnvestern territory, INIiss 
Harriet Brawdon, whose father, Armstrong 
Brandon, was publisher of the first newspaper in 
Indiana. 

Noble B. Judah was the youngest child of a 
family of eleven children. One of his brothers, 
as well as himself, is now eminent in his father's 
chosen profession. His education was begun in 
the public schools of Vincennes and continued at 
the Vincennes University and the Indiana State 
University at Bloomington. From this latter in- 
stitution he went east to Brown University, 
Providence, Rhode Island, and was there gradu- 
ated with high honors, in the class of 1872. He 
immediately entered upon the study of law in 
Chicago, which was then rising from its ashes 
and attracting ambitious yoimg men in every 
profession, his choice of the field of his life efforts 
being undoubtedly influenced by his loyalty to 
western ideas and ideals, which his eastern edu- 
cation had not affected. 

Mr. Judah entered the law office of Hitchcock 
& Dupce as a student in 1872, and, except for a 
brief period, when he attended law lectures at the 
University of Michigan, he has from that time to 
the present been identified with that office, which 
was recognized as one of the leading law firms 
in the state. Tlie late Mr. Charles Hitchcock 
was the president of the convention of 1870. 
which had prepared the present constitution of 
Illinois. Mr. Judah's energy and ability soon 
made him indispensable to the firm, and in the 
spring of 1875 he was admitted to partnership 
therein, the firm name l:)eing afterward changed 
to Hitchcock. Duj)ee & Judah. Upon Mr. HitsJi- 
cock's death in 1880 the firm name was changed 
to Dupee & Judah, and subsequently to Dupee, 



Judah & Willard, and Dupee, Judah, Willard & 
Wolf successively. 

Mr. Judah's career has been noteworthy. 
For many years he was counsel and attorney for 
the First National Bank of Chicago. While not 
confining his professional studies to a linfited 
field, he has devoted himself much to corporation 
law, and has represented as counsel for years 
together the South Side Elevated Railroad Com- 
pany, the Corn Exchange National Bank, the 
Northern Trust Company, the Western Stone 
Compan)-, the University of Chicago and many 
more of the larger institutions and corporations 
of Chicago, and at the same time has been identi- 
fied with much of the most important litigation in 
the courts. 

In his legal work !Mr. Judah is esi>ecially 
characterized by great and conscientious attention 
to detail, as well as a broad and comprehensive 
grasp of principle. High minded, and occupying 
always the highest jxissible plane, industrious and 
energetic, cjuick to comprehend and jirompt to ex- 
ecute, with caution which never descends to timid- 
ity, and enthusiasm, intensity and impetuosity 
which never cloud his judgment, he has for years 
held an envied position as a lawyer and citizen. 

Mr. Judah is a factor in politics, Ijcing re- 
garded as one of the wisest counselors of his 
party. Notwithstanding his personal disinclina- 
tion to hold public office, during a reform cam- 
paign he was induced to run for the position of 
alderman for the ward in which he resides, and 
a proof of his popularity is the fact that he re- 
ceived the largest vote ever given to any candi- 
date in his ward. While in the cotmcil he was 
chairman of the judiciary comnfittee. and many 
were the nefarious schemes frustrated and ad- 
vantageous ones rendered successful by his oppo- 
sition or advocacy. In 1896 Mr. Judah was a 
presidential elector on the Republican ticket. 

Mr. Judah is a member of many of Chicago's 
social organizations. He is one of the trustees in 



95 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



the First Universalist Cliurch and a direclor in inson, daughter of one of Chicago's best-known 
several local charitable institutions. In 1878 he citizens, Benjamin P. Hutchinson. He has two 

children, Noble B., Jr., and Helen. 



was united in marriage to ]Miss Katherine Hutch 



WALTER AUGUSTUS STEVENS, M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Born in Richmond, Ontario count}-, New 
York, on the 19th of April, 1830, Dr. Stevens 
is actively engaged in dental practice. Although 
of the old schixil he has kept abreast of all mod- 
ern impro\-ements, but he mastered the working 
details of his profession before there were any 
institutions in the west and only two or three in 
the east, which were authorized to grant the de- 
gree D. D. S. He received his degree of M. D. 
from Rush Medical College, February 15, 1887. 

As to Dr. Stevens' ancestors it may be stated 
that his grandfather. Jesse, was a patriotic son' 
of Massachusetts during the Revolutionary war, 
and when the selectmen of the town of Chelms- 
ford called for fifteen men for nine months' serv- 
ice he was one of the first to enlist and hold him- 
self in readiness for service whenever occasion 
should demand. In the spring of 1771 he went 
to Concord, Mass., and there joined a company 
which was ordered to Peekskill, New York. At 
this place he was detached and detailed to giiard 
the cattle held as provisions for the Continental 
army. This was an humble duty, but he per- 
formed it well, since he was not discharged from 
the serv'ice until more than a month after Corn- 
wallis had surrendered. In fact, at the time of 
the surrender he was within two days' march of 
both the American and the British armies. 

Dr. Stevens" parents, \\^alter and Lucy (Os- 
good) Stevens, were brought to Western New 
York as children when that section of the country 
was considered as the outskirts of civilization. His 
father was buried the day he was thirteen years 
old, leaving a large farm and a family of seven 
children. The eldest brother dying during the 



following year, responsibilities were thrown 
upon his shoulders which were beyond his years ; 
yet, guided by the counsels of an honored mother, 
he stood bravely at his post of duty until his 
younger sisters and brothers had received higher 
educations and were prepared to assume their 
share of the burden. 

Dr. Stevens" early education was acquired in 
the district schools of his native county, in the 
Palmvra high school and the Genesee Weslevan 
Seminary at Lima. \\'hile obtaining his higher 
education the bent of his mind was indicated in 
the nature of his favorite studies, which were 
anatomy, physiology and mathematics. He even 
took private lessons in mathematics of Professor 
Dascom Green, subsequently connected for many 
years with the Polytechnic Institute of Troy, 
New York. In fact, although an agriculturist 
by accident of birth, the tastes of the youth were 
by no means pastoral, inclining decidedly toward 
both medicine and civil engineering at quite an 
early age. For several years after leaving school, 
however, circumstances forced him to work upon 
the farm, the winters being more congenially 
passed in the pursuit of his favorite studies. 

In 1857 Dr. Stevens came west and obtained 
employment on a railroad then being constructed 
in eastern Missouri, which afterwards became a 
section of the Missouri & Iron Mountain line. 
During the succeeding four years he was en- 
gaged in railroad work, bridge building, piling, 
filling, etc., taking no active part in politics; yet 
his \iews for the perpetuation and exaltation of 
the Union were known. IMost of the time his 
headquarters were at Bird"s Point, and Charles- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



99 



ton, Mississippi CDunty, and for a short time dur- 
ing Buchanan's administration, in 1859, he was 
postmaster at the former locahty, situated on tlie 
Mississippi river, Opposite Cairo. 

During the latter part of his stay in Missouri, 
Dr. Stevens, as a stanch Unionist and northern 
man, found himself the object of much disagree- 
able attention. In those days the Knights of the 
Golden Circle, a Democratic anti-Union organiza- 
tion, were cjuite as prominent in the politics of 
Missouri as they were in Illinois. Dr. Stevens, 
in common with other Union men, received a 
fierce notice to "quit" that section of the country, 
which he has preserved as a personal memento 
and an historic ciu'iosity. It is written in rather 
a feminine hand, on common note paper, the 
document being entrusted to the care of one Irish 
Tim, an honest old fellow, who brought it tO' Mr. 
Stevens and said he found it "back of Dr. Simp- 
son's barn." The notice reads : "Abolition Rail 
Road Stevens. You are hereby commanded to 
order the above Individual to leave at 8, or 
HANG at 12. Norfolk-Columbus-Charleston 
Vigilance Committee." Below the signature were 
two crude blood-red crosses, between which were 
the words, "Eternal Vigilance is the Price of 
Li1)erty," and still below this motto the initials 
K. G. C, enclosed by a circle of red. The young 
northerner received the document February 24, 
1 86 1, and although he did not leave for four 
months, neither did he hang at high noon of that 
momentous day. Instead, he remained until July 
of that year, when he permanently located in 
Chicago. 

Previous to this time Dr. Stevens had studied 
dentistry in private, and when he settled in this 
city he entered the office of Dr. Honsinger, then 
one of the leading local practitioners, and com- 
menced the systematic mastery of his profession. 
After remaining here two years he commenced 
practice himself, and for a third of a century, 
with few interruptions, he has thus been actively 
engaged. During this entire period he has la- 



bored and lived on the South Side, and by his 
industry, cordiality and skill has not only be- 
come prosperous, but has attained a high social 
as well as professional position. 

Since its organization Dr. Stevens has been 
a member of the Chicago Dental Society, and has 
lieen president of the state organization. 

On the 2d of September, 1862, the year pre- 
\-ious to the commencement of his long practice, 
Dr. Stevens was married to Elanora V. Richards, 
of Lenox, Massachusetts. They have two chil- 
dren living. Genevieve I., their daughter, is a 
young lady of fine education, being not only a 
graduate of the high school and student in the 
Chicago University, but having previously had 
the benefit of eighteen months' European travel 
and culture. Wirt A. is twenty-two' years of 
age, a student at the North Western Dental Col- 
lege, was a member of the Naval Militia and 
went to the Spanish- American war in 1898, be- 
ing one of the first to go. 

Aside from his professional and domestic 
hfe, there is nothing in which Dr. Stevens has 
entered with more zest and in which his heart is 
more wrapt than in the work and pleasure con- 
nected with the Masonic order. Not only is he 
one of the oldest members in the west, but he 
is also one of the most prominent, and none are 
more honored. He first joined Union Lodge, 
No. 45, of Lima, New York, which never closed 
its doors during the anti-Masonic agitation of 
1826, becoming- a charter member of Blair Lodge, 
No. 393, when it was organized in 1864, and 
serving as its master for two years. For three 
vears he was high priest of Chicago Chapter, No. 
127, R. A. M., and was commander of Apollo 
Commandery, No. i, Knights Templar, in 1874. 
During a portion of July and August, 1883, the 
commandery made a pilgrimage to Europe. The 
party, consisting of about one hundred and twen- 
tv knights and ladies, with friends besides, em- 
barked for Liverpool on the magnificent steamer 
"City of Rome." Four itineraries were marked 



lOO 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



out for the tourists, enibraciug London, Paris, 
Holland, Belgium, the Rhine, Switzerland and 
Scotland. At the head of the commandery was 
Eminent Sir Norman T. Cassette, Dr. Stevens, 
as generalissiniu, being second in authorit}'. 1 lie 
trip was one continuous ovation, perhaps the 
most impressive and enjoyable occasion being 
the reception accorded the commander}- b}' the 
Knights of the historic city of York, England. 
This included not only a visit to the ancient wall 
and other antiquities, as well as the famous min- 
ster, but an exemplification of the English ritual 
and a levee given by the Lord Mayor of York. 
Upon this occasion the generalissimo delivered a 
speech, which was much applauded and after- 
wards extensively circulated in printed form. 

Besides having been commander of Apollo, 
Dr. Stevens served as commander-in-chief of the 
(jrand Consistory of the state of Illinois, A. O. 



S. R., until 1867, when all grand consistories in 
the northern Masonic jurisdiction were discon- 
tinued. He was also for eleven years district 
deputy grand master of the first district of F. 
& A. M., in Illinois. He is an active member of 
Supreme Council, S. G. I. G., of the northern 
jurisdiction. No. 33, has been grand representa- 
tive of the grand lodge of North Carolina, and 
now' holds that position for the grantl lodge of 
New York, the grand chapter of Nebraska {R. 
A. M.) and the grand commandery of North Da- 
kota. 

In conclusion it may be stated that although 
Dr. Stevens is a man of convictions, he is a man 
so ennnently sociable and genial that he never 
advances them in a way to give offense. He is 
domestic in the best sense of the word, is open 
in word and deed, and no man stands higher in 
the honest, unassuming practice of his profession. 



HENRY H. CARR 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Henry H. Carr, of the famous Farmers Com- after his birth his family returned to New York 
mission House, is a member of the Chicago state to look after property interests, but when 
Board of Trade ; has been connected with the he was nine years old they again moved to Illi- 
Board since 1S70, and long ago had won an envi- nois and took up their residence in LaSalle 
able reputation as a commission dealer. He county. Mr. Carr's father founded the flourish- 
gained special pronnnence, how- ing city of Sandwich, Illinois, and established a 
ever, from the fact that he was grain and general merchandise business, and 
the first to originate the system Henry, during the spare hours and vacations of 
of direct consignments from the his school life, got his early training here in a 
farmers, which places the pro- mercantile career. At the age of fifteen years he 
ducer in the closest possible touch entered a commercial college at Chicago, remain- 
with the consumer, makes him a ing there dilring the winter of 1859 and i860, 
saving on every bushel of his On completing his course he returned home and 
grain, and renders a farmer in- went to work in his father's store. At the out- 
de])endent of the middle man, break of the war he was anxious to enlist, but 
with all profits in favor of himself. was considered too young. In the following 
Henry H. Carr was born at Nortliville. La- year, however, being eighteen rears of age, he 
Salle county, Illinois, June 20, 1844. Soon gained the consent of his parents and enlisted in 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



lOI 



Company H, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment. 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and saw three years' 
service. His regiment was chiefly engaged in the 
campaigns of tlie Army of the Cumberland, and 
during these three years' service it took part in 
nearly all the of battles of the southwest; 
marched with Sherman to the sea and up the 
coast, and participated in the grand review of 
the Federal army at Washington at the close of 
the war. Mr. Carr was mustered out in Chicago 
in June, 1865. He selected the west as his field 
of action. He was at Leavenworth, Kansas, when 
it was the chief distributing point of the south- 
west. Later he was financial man with the whole- 
sale house of W. H. Johnson & Company, 
Quincy, Illinois. From this he stepped to a place 
in the great house of Field, Leiter & Company, 
of Chicago. A little later he was interested in 
the Board of Trade firm of E. F. Pulsifer & Com- 
pany, this connection lasting six years. It was 
after several visits to the Black Hills, combining 
business with health seeking, and a short experi- 
ence in sheep raising in Texas, that Mr. Carr, in 
1879, returned to Chicago and associated himself 
with the Board of Trade firm of N. B. Ream & 
Company, with whom he contimied until 1884, 
when he established the house of H. H. Carr «S: 
Company. . Associated with him as special part- 
ner was Mr. Norman B. Ream. With the retire- 
ment of Mr. Ream, two years later, Mr. Carr de- 
I^arted from the old-fashioned methods of the 
trade and originated the system of direct consign- 
ments from farmers. This, slow at first, soon ac- 
quired momentum, until to-day the firm of which 
he is the head stands unrivaled. Already thou- 
sands of intelligent farmers are disposing of their 
crops in this way. In fact, the enormous busi- 
ness which Mr. Carr has built up within the last 
few years has been developed along the most pro- 
gressive lines. When he began to advocate his 
shipping reform he encountered all sorts of oppo- 
sition. The country bayers, seeing in the suc- 
cess of his direct shipping plan the probable dis- 



pension with middlemen's services by farmers, 
fouglu him bitterly at every point. He was 
sneered at and ridiculed as the farmers' friend. 
His opponents little thought that they were con- 
ferring an honorable title, which, in five years, 
was to be the inspiration of a million farmers 
over a dozen great states. Mr. Carr accepted the 
title from the first. The system inaugurated by 
hun rests upon the theory that the farmer's suc- 
cess depends as much upon the intelligent dis- 
ix)sal of his crops as upon the care and judgment 
exercised in raising them. By offering to the 
purchaser a quick and economical method of put- 
ting his product upon a broad competitive and 
distributive market, he effects a valubble agri- 
cultural refonn and saves to the farmers the 
profits which have heretofore gone to others, 
who, under the old system, are considered neces- 
sary intermediates in every transaction. 

A leading- agricultural journal, in discussing 
the future importance of Mr. Carr's work, malces 
tlvis comment : 

"The greatest objection raised by farmers 
against this plan has been the labor of handling 
their grain, they drawing comparisons between 
unloading it into the local elevator or shoveling 
it into the car by hand. The Farmers Commis- 
sion House has been studying for years how to 
overcome this objection, experimenting with 
various kinds of machinery, such as small ele- 
vators, which have proven too expensive. We 
understand that Mr. Carr is developing a plan 
whicli will prove effectual and much less ex- 
pensive than the experiments made heretofore. 
He has combined a cheap jxnver, already in suc- 
cessful use, with additional machinery necessary 
for the easy and economical transfer of the fann- 
ers' grain from the wagon into the cars." 

For nearly thirty years Mr. Carr has been ac- 
tively identified with every reform that has tended 
to promote the interests of the grain business and 
has always maintained the highest standing both 
in business and social circles. For several years 



I02 



PROMIXEXT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



he was secretary of the Grain Receivers' Asso- including- the Union League. Mr. Carr was 

ciation. He has also striven for the best interests united in marriage to Miss Jemima Hobbs, 

of the city of his adaption. March ], 1877, and has two daughters, Maude 

Mr. Carr is a member of several social clubs, and Mabelle. 



JOHN J. HERRICK 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



John J. Herrick, senior member of the well- 
known law tirm of Herrick, Allen, Boyesen & 
Martin, is an active and able member of the Chi- 
cago bar, and has won honorable distinction by 
the capable manner in vvhich he has cared for 
the litigation entrusted to his care. 

Mr. Herrick was born at Hillsboro, Illi- 
nois, May 25, 1845, a descendant from sturdy 
English ancestors, prominent in the history 
of early colonial times. His great-grandfa- 
ther, Jacob Herrick, was an officer in the 
Continental army and prominent also in civil 
life in New England during his life time. In 
his early youth John J. Herrick was brought 
to Chicago, where for thirteen years his father. 
Professor William B. Herrick, M. D., was the 
well-known occupant of the chair of anatomy and 
materia medica in Rush Medical College, being 
also elected to the presidency of the State Medical 
Society of Illinois. The mother of Mr. Herrick 
before her marriage was Miss Martha Seward, 
a daughter of John B. Seward, of Montgomery 
county, Illinois. She was a woman of many rare 
qualities and married Dr. Herrick in the early 
'forties, shortly after he took up his residence in 
Illinois. 

John J. Herrick attended both public and 
private schools in Chicago until the age of twelve, 
when he accompanied his parents to Maine. 
From 1857 to 1865 he continued his studies at 
the acade:ny at Lewiston Falls. ]\Iaine, and by 
this thorough preparatory training was fitted for 
college. The latter year witnessed his entrance into 



Eowdoin College, graduating in i860 with the 
degree of B. A. Returning to Chicago he taught 
school in Hyde Park, which at that time was a 
separate corporation from Chicago, and while thus 
engaged he took up the study of law, and at the 
close of the school year of 1867 was matriculated 
in the Chicago Law School, and also became a 
student in the law ofifice of Higgins, Swett & 
Ouigg. In the spring of 1868 he graduated, but 
continued with the firm, learning the practical side 
of his profession until 1871, when just before the 
fire he opened a law office on his own account. 
Few men come to the active practice of law bet- 
ter fitted to struggle w'ith the intricate problems 
than Mr. Herrick. A thorough training from 
the ground up, academical, collegiate, legal, the 
latter including not only the theoretical work of 
a law school, but several years of practical work 
in a busy law office, had fitted him to take re- 
sponsible trusts and ably champion them. Al- 
thougii so young he soon had a large clientage 
and w'as employed in several important cases. 
Since that time he has been continually before 
the public eye. not by reason of any desire on 
his part for notoriety, but because ability of a 
high order cannot fail to attract attention. He 
is to-day one of the most important members of 
the bar. He is earnest, logical and forceful, and 
the profession, as well as the public, accord him 
rank among those of distinguished ability as a 
lawyer. 

In 1878 Mr. Herrick formed a partnership 
with Mr. Wirt Dexter, one of the eminent law- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



105 



yers of the country, and in 1880, tliey were joined 
by Charles L. Allen, under the firm name of 
Dexter, Herrick & Allen, a connection that con- 
tinued until the death of Mr. Dexter in May, 
1890. The other two partners then carried on 
the business of the tirm until May, 1893, when 
they were joined by J. K. Boyesen and subse- 
quently by Horace H. Martin under the firm 
name Herrick, Allen. Boyesen & Martin. Few 
firms have received more practice in which 
greater interests are at stake, both private and 
corporate, and few have won a greater reputation 
for success in such cases. This is due in no small 
degree to the wise counsel of Mr. Herrick. The 
important litigation with which he has been con- 
nected include the Taylor and Storey will cases; 
that of Divine versus the People in the matter 
of the county commissioners bond voting being 
constitutional ; the great clash of eastern. English 
and Chicago capital in the stock yards cases; 
those regarding the rights of foreign corpora- 
tions in Illinois, heard before the state and united 
States supreme courts ; those of the Burlington 
Railroad System touching constitutional rights 
in Nebraska and Iowa, also before the United 
States supreme court ; and the leading case in 
regard to preferences in assignments of Spauld- 
ing versus Preston; in case of the People, ex rel., 
versus Kirk, involving the constitutiimality of 
the act authorizing the extension of boulevards 
over the w^aters of Lake Michigan and the rights 
of riparian owners under the act. and the elevator 



cases, involving important questions as to the 
rights and power of elevator proprietors under 
the Illinois constitution and the Warehouse Act. 
During something over a quarter of a century 
he has been at the bar, interests of the gravest 
importance have been intrusted to his keeping. 
The delicate questions involved in the settlement 
of great estates have been referred to him, and 
in no instance has he proved inadequate to the 
tasks laid upon him or failed to show the confi- 
dence reposed in him was not well placed. In clear- 
ness and logical arrangement his briefs are rarely 
equalled. The highest courts of Illinois, Iowa 
and Nebraska have recognized his ability and his 
voice has been frequently heard in behalf of liti- 
gants before the United States supreme court. 

Many of the cases in which he has been suc- 
cessfully engaged have, because of the import- 
ance of the issues involved, come to be regarded 
as what are known to lawyers as "leading cases," 
that is, cases that are universally regarded by the 
courts and the profession as forever determin- 
ing the law upon points adjudicated. 

Mr. Herrick is a prominent member of the 
Chicago Bar Association and the Law Institute, 
and has been honored with high offices in these 
organizations. He also' belongs to the Citizens 
Association, the Chicago, Literary Society and 
the University and Chicago Clubs. He is a gen- 
tleman of scholarly tastes and broad general in- 
f(jrmation, social, generous and genial, a most 
agreeable companion. 



ARISTA B. WILLIAMS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 
Arista B. \\illiams, a member of the well- acquired at the Bedford public and high school. 



known law firm of Castle, Williams & Smith, 
was born at Bedford, Indiana, November 29, 
i860, and is a son of Thomas Carter, and Eliza- 
beth C. (Fish) Williams. His educatimi was 



after which he entered Valparaiso College at 
Valparaiso, Indiana. He then clerked in his fa- 
tlier's drv-goods store for a time and then taught 
a country school for a period, during which 



]o6 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



lie studied law and was adniitled ti- the bar at 
Sullivan. Indiana, in 1885. He at once entered 
ui)i>n his chosen profession and practiced at Sul- 
lixan from 1885 to 1893. when he came to Chi- 
cago and Ijecame a meml)er of the firm of Cutting' 
Castle & Williams, wliicli partnershi|i continued 
until Kjoo. when it was dissohed. because the 



lUember of the Mystic s]u"ine: he is a member 
also of the (Jaks, of Austin, and the Westwartl- 
Ho Golf Club. 

He has traveled all over the United States 
and over most of Europe. Politicallv he is a 
(iold Democrat. 

Mr. Williams was united in marriage Octo- 



senii r member C)f the Hrm was electetl probate btr 12. 1887. to Miss Mar\- Crow dcr. daughter 

judge of Cook countv. The present firm of of William H. Crowder. at Sulli\an. Indiana. 

■Castle, Williams & Smith was then for:ned. She died in July, 1891. There are no cliil- 

Mr. Williams is a Knight Templar and a dren. 



CHARLES L. ALLEN 

CHICAGO. ILL. 

Charles L. Allen, of the law tirm of Herrick, yiv. De.\ter"s death as the firm of flcrrick & 

Allen, Boyesen & Martin, was born at Kalama- Allen. 

zoo, Michigan, October 22, 1S49, '^^ descendant yir. Allen has won success in his chosen pro- 
of an historical family that traces its emigration fession by devoting himself to it without re- 
to this country in the Alayflower, His father serve. Combining all the requirements of the 
w^as Dr. J. Adams Allen, among the early resi- successful lawyer, he has established a reputation 
dents of Chicago, and his mother before her for veracity and honesty o-f purpose and is e\ery- 
marriage was Miss Mary Marsh, a daughter of where recognized as the highest ideal of the at- 
Jolm P. Marsh, a jiioneer citizen and legislator torney and man of afifairs. The clientage oi the 
of Michigan and a sister of Professor Marsh, of firm of which he is a meml)er is large, compris- 
Denison University. ing both corporations and individuals, and much 

Mr. Allen moved to Chicago with his parents of their business is of an adxisory nature. It 

at an early age. He received a substantial edu- is in this field, perhaps, that Mr. .\llen is best 

cr.tion in the public schools of this city and was known, and the frecjuency with which he is 

also a student in the old Chicago University. sought as an arbitrator in cases in\olving very 

From there he became enrolled in Denison Uni- large interests demonstrates how great is the 

versity at Granville, Ohio, where he completed confidence in his judgment and fairness to all 

his collegiate course under his unxle's direction concerned, 
and was graduated in 1870. Mr. .Mien was married in 1873 to Miss Lucy 

On his return to Chicago, Mr. Allen pursued E. Powell, of ]>elle\-ille, Illinois, a daughter of 



tlie study of law in the office of W'alker, Dexter 
& Smith, and up<jn his admission to the Ixir he 
became a member of that firm. Mr. Smith re- 
tired in 1871) and Mr. .Mien's name then ap- 
peared in the firm of Dexter, Herrick & Allen, 
which was continued for many vears after 



Gen. W. II. Powell of Civil war fame. They 
lia\e one daughter, Dora Alice Allen. 

Mr. .Mien is de\iited to the pleasures of 
home life. He is an ardent lover if music and 
his library of musical literature is one of the best 
in the west. .Mthough a club man and holding 




% 





PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



109 



ir;emberslii|) in the L'iii\ ersily, Chicagf), Chicago 
Literary, and Ininn League Chilis, it is rather 
Ijecause <if his liteftiry taste than his lci\-e nf 
club life. His political idea.s are dl the broad- 
est nature, he believes in casting his vote inde- 



pendently, rather than in supi)(jrting a party slate 
(if machine-made can<lidates. He is thoroughly 
iniblic spirited and his interest in all that pertains 
ti the welfare of Chicago is strong and stead- 
fast. 



JUDGE CHARLES S. CUTTING 



CHICAGO. ILL. 



Hon. Charles S. Cutting, Judge of the Pro- Cicero. It involved the question of municipal 



bate Coin^t, was born at Highgate Springs, Ver- 
mont, r^larch I, 1854, and is a son of Charles A. 
and Laura E. ( Averill ) Cutting, of New Eng- 
land descent. Educated in the high school and in 
Willamette University of Salem, 




ta.xation as applied to the town of Cicero under 
its special charter. For many years it had been 
a mooted question, and had Ijeen decided ad- 
\'ersely to the town b_\- Judge Tulc}-, which de- 
cision was reversed by the Supreme Court at the 
Oregon, he tlien entered upon his April term of 1S98. Another case reported in 



the 12 1 St Volume of Illinois Reports, page 72, is 
the Town of Palatine \s. Kreuger. The point in- 
\ol\-ed was the right of the (jwner of the fee in 
one-half of the street to the gravel in said half. 
The Supreme Court held that the municipality 
educational work, being principal had absolute control of all the street, even as 
of the high school at Palatine. against the owner of the fee, who could not be 
Cook county, Illinois, for six permitted to dig gravel without the consent of 



business career as a journalist, 
acceiJting the position of assist- 
ant editor on the Cedar Rapids 
Times, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
Later he devoted some time to 



years. He is a man of strong mental en 



(_|oW- 



the \-illage. The case was decided in favor of 



ments and marked intellectuality, and in both the \illage before a justice of the peace ; that de- 
professions was successful: but a still broader cision was affirmed in the Criminal Court. The 
field opened before him when he began prepa- second decision was reversed in the Appellate 
ration for the bar. He came to Chicago in 187. ;.. Court, and the Appellate Court's decisi(.)n was re- 
and in 1878 entered upon the study of law, which versed and the decision of the justice of the peace 
he pursued in the offices and under the direction affirmed in the Supreme Court. This case 
of the late Joshua C. Knickerbocker, being ad- created considerable interest in law circles on ac- 



mitted to the bar in 1880. 

Mr. Cutting at once entered uijon the prac- 
tice of law, and steadily built up a large business. 
He was Master in Chancery of the Circuit Court 
of Cook county from 1887 until 1890. His prac- 
tice was largely in the line of civil law. and be 
was retamed as counsel in manv imi)ortant cases; 



count of the right which it invoh-ed of the city's 
Control over its streets. For one vear Mr. Cut- 
ting was attorney for the town of Cicero, and was 
for years the senior member of the lirm of Cut- 
ting, Castle & Williams, which firm ranked higli 
in Chicago' legal circles. 

Judge Cutting was nominated for Probate 



one which demonstrated his superior ability Judge May 11, 1900, by the Republican party, 
was that in which he represented the town of and duly elected in No\-ember the same vear. He 



I lO 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



took liis seat in December, 1900, and lias ably 
fulfilled the expectation of his party by making 
an able and upright judge. 

Judge Cutting is a member of the Bar As- 
sociation and the Law Club. He is also con- 
nected with the Masonic fraternity. The cause 
of education always finds in him a warm friend 
and he did effective service in its interests while 
for nine vears a member of the board of edti- 



catiun in Cook county. For three years of this 
time he was its president and for three years also 
he was a member and president of the board of 
education of Palatine. Politically a Republican, 
he takes great interest in the success of his party. 
Judge Cutting was married in 1876 to Miss 
Annie E. Lytle. and with their son, Robert M. 
Cutting, they reside in the pleasant suburb of 
Austin. 



J. ADAMS ALLEN, 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



D. 



Mr. Allen was a man of power as well in his 
chosen profession, as in his writings and in his 
public life. He lived always under the dominion 
of a strong mentality, a faithful, honorable sci- 
entist, who commands our most unfeigned re- 
spect. In his death the city lost one of its bright- 
est ornaments, and society one of its noblest and 
worthiest members. 

Dr. Allen was burn in Middleburg-, Vermont, 
January 16, 1825. On his father's side he was 
of Welsh and Anglo-Saxon ancestry (1634), 
and on his mother's he came from Mayflower 
stock (1620). His names he received from his 
great-grandfather, Jonathan Adams, being fam- 
ily names in the well-known Adams family of 
Massachusetts. The senior Dr. Allen \\as for 
inany years one of the most eminent medical men 
of New England, widely known as a skillful 
surgeon, writer and teacher. He died in 1848, 
at the age of sixty. 

The academic education of Dr. Allen was 
received at IMiddleburg College, Vermont, and 
his medical education at Castleton Medical Col- 
lege in that state. Graduating in 1846, he set- 
tled in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and in January, 
1847 married Miss Mary Marsh of that city. 

He remained in Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor 
twelve years, and in February, 1848, he was ap- 



pointed Professor of Materia Medica, Thera- 
peutics and Aledical jurisprudence in the Indiana 
]\Jedical College at Laporte, in that state. In 
1850 he was elected Professor of Physiology and 
Pathology in the ]\Iedical Department of the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, and in 1858 was elected 
president of the Michigan State ^Medical Society. 
In 1859 Dr. Allen removed to Chicago, where 
he continued active practice during the remainder 
of his life. 

Dr. Allen gave much time and particular at- 
tention to the subject of medical jurisprudence, 
and especially to that part involving questions of 
insanity. He contested the priority of teaching 
the mechanism of ner\'ous action w ith the noted 
Dr. Marshall Hall, of England, and Dr. Henry 
F". Campbell, of Georgia. His contributions to 
medical literature comprise "Essays on IMechan- 
ism of Nervous Action," published in 1858, and 
"Medical Examination for Life Insurance." Of 
the latter work nearly fifty thousand copies have 
been sold, and is considered an authority among 
life insurance companies. He furnished many 
articles of professioal interest to medical jour- 
nals and was many years editor of the Chicago 
Medical Journal. Laider the administration of 
President Buchanan he was made receiver of 
public moneys for Michigan. During the entire 






Ct^r/^^Zy^a^ tZ-^^^:.t^, 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



113 



period of his residence in Chicago he held the 
chair of professor of Tlieury and Practice of 
Medicine in Rnsh Medical College, where his 
lectures, eminently practical as well as witty and 
learned, well earned him his great popularity with 
all his classes, and where he was long spoken of 
among the admiring students as the "Versatile 
Uncle." 

Among tlie oldest memhers of the American 
Medical Association, Dr. Allen was also associ- 
ated with the Illinois State Medical Society and 
a nmnber of other medical associations. For 
twenty-four years he acted as surgeon for the 
Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy Railroad. He 
was president of Rush Medical College for many 
years and up to the time of his death. He was 
Grand Master of Masons oi Michigan. Honory 
member of the thirty-third degree of Scottish 
Rite, northern jurisdiction, the chosen orator on 
occasions of celebration, successful editor and 



correspondent, his life indeed was worth the li\-- 
ing and his work has left its impress upon his 
generation. In his travels Dr. Allen gained a 
valuable fund of knowledge. This he treasured 
up in a series of journals, which, if published in 
full, would fill several octavo volumes. He made 
the tour of Europe, Egypt and Morocco and 
some of his notes have already been published. 
Dr. Allen died August 15, 1890. Endowed 
by nature with a mind of the finest texture, en- 
riched and strengthened by cultivation, he 
grasped with remarkable ease and clearness the 
science of medicine. His memory carefully gar- 
nered up and stored away inexhaustible treasures, 
which he used to benefit mankind. His heart 
was as expansive as his mind. Kindness ex- 
haled from him as an atmosphere and shed its 
beneficence upon all alike who came into his pres- 
ence. His work still lives and will endure and 
is his most fitting monument. 



HON. ADDISON GARDNER FOSTER 

TACOMA, WASH. 



Hon. Addison G. Foster, United States sen- 
ator from the state of Washington, was born at 
Belchertown, Mass., January 28, 1837, and is a 
son of Samuel and Mary W. (Walker) Foster. 
He is a direct descendant of Reginald Foster, who 
landed at Ipswich in 1638; his parents were 
among the pioneers of Wisconsin, residing at 
Sheboygan Falls ; later they removed to Oswego, 
Kendall county, Illinois, where he received a good 
common-school education, and started riut in life 
by teaching school, finally settling at Wabasha, 
Minnesota, and engaged in the grain and real-es- 
tate business ; there his friends prevailed upon him 
to accept his first and last public office until elected 
United States senator from Washington, serving 
as county auditor and county sun-eyor, one tenn 
in each position: in 1873 removed to St. Paul, 

8* 



]\Iinnesota, and engaged extensively in lumber- 
ing, contracting and the fuel supply trade with 
Col. C. \\'. Griggs, of that city, and now of Ta- 
coma, who has ever since been his close business 
and personal associate. ^^'hi]e a resident of 
^Minnesota he participated actively in several con- 
gressional and senatorial campaigns ; has always 
been a Republican and active in maintaining 
party organization. 

In the state of Washington Senator Foster 
has extensive lumber coal, coke, packing-house 
and shipping interests, and has recently become 
interested in the Pacific Coast Iron and Steel 
\\'orks. a new and promising industry located at 
Irondale in that state. He, with his business as- 
sociates, sends the chief products of ^^^ashington 
bv rail and b\- sail and steamers throughout the 



114 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



\\(irl(l. He was elected United States senator to 
succeed John L. Wilson, Republican. 

Senator Foster is a member of several orders 
and societies, among which are the Free Masons 
and the Elks. 

He married, March. 1863, Martha A. Weth- 
erbee daughter of Francis Wetheibee, of Waba- 
sha, Minnesota. Thev have had four children. 



two sons only now living: thev were educated at 
Yale College. The elder, Mr. Harrison G., is en- 
gage<l in the lumber and shingle business and 
resides at Chicago, Illinois. The younger, 
Charles A., has been learning the business of 
steam engineering as applied to ship building, and 
is now employed at Cramp's ship yard, Philadel- 
phia. 



COL. EDWARD PRINCE 

OUINCY, ILL. 




Col. Edward Prmce, of (Juincy, was born in 
East Bloomfield, Ontario county, New York, 
December 8, 1832, the youngest of six children 
born to David and Sophia (Ellsworth) Prince, of 
BriHiklyn. Connecticut. The father of David 

Prince was Maj. Timothy Prince, 

who was a near neighbor of, and 

served from the same county 

with. Gen. Israel Putnam in the 

Re\-ulutionary war. The mother 

of Edward Prince was the daugh- 
ter of Daniel Ellsworth, a relative 

of Governor Ellsworth and a 

member of the numerous family 

of Ellsworth, who figured in the 
history of the eastern and middle states as sol- 
diers, gx.vernors and statesmen. 

Edward Prince was reared on a farm, \\ here 
he was early inured to hard work. He attended 
school dnring the winter months until 1846, and 
in the fall of that year entered the preparatory 
department of Illinois College, graduating in the service of his country. Having a taste for mili- 
class of '32. His vacations were spent on the tary life, he studieil the cavalry tactics and be- 
farm, doing a man's work in the harvest held: came so familiar with the drill that upon ofifer- 
and while in college he boarded himself and ing his services to Governor Yates in the summer 
sawed wood on Saturdays in order to defray his of 186 1, he was appointed cavalry drill master, 
e.xpenses. After graduating he worked on the with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, in the Sev- 
farm for three months, and in the fall of 1852 erth Illinois Cavalry. He has always shown 
became a law student in the office of Williams & great genius in develo])ing the systems and intri- 



Lawrence. During his collegiate career, when 
about sixteen years of age. he made with a 
hatchet, hand-vise and tile for tools, and a joint 
of stove-pipe and lead and iron for materials, a 
steam, double-cylinder locomotive, with reversing 
and link motion. This machine attracted much 
attention among the students, until an explosion 
one day put an end to the marvel. In college he 
was fair in all his studies, but seemed to ha\e an 
intuitive knowledge of natural science. 

After obtaining his license to practice law, 
Mr. Prince was associated with Abraham Jones, 
and was afterward a partner of General Single- 
ton, and still later in partnership with Hon. 
Bernard Arntzen. In 1855-56 he traveled on 
hor,seback over most of the southern states and 
bought lands for Daniel Paulin and the firm of 
Gilpin & Rowland. The following is his military 
h.istory, taken from R. W. Surby's book on the 
raids of the Civil war : "When the south re- 
belled Colonel Prince entered with zeal into the 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



1 1 



cale nianemers of truups. and in inventing and 
improving many things which have been of great 
value in the held and at Imnie. In illustration ul 
this, two instances may be described : While in 
front of Port Hudson his active mind conceived 
a plan by which the enemy's works could be 
brouglit under our observation. He applied to 
General Banks for permission to carry out his 
plan. It was granted, and he immediately com- 
n-.enced building 'cavaliers.' which are high 
mounds of earth, overlcxjking and commanding 
the enemy's parapets. Colonel Prince set his 
troopers to transiwrting from the sugar houses 
the empty hogsheads, which could be found in 
great quantities in that section of the country. 
These he tilled with cotton and rolled at night to 
within a short distance of the fort, and soon five 
hundred men were able to take a position in line 
behind this no\el breastwork. The arc of the 
semicircle was then thrown within fifty yards of 
the rebel works, and by digging sufficient dirt, 
tb.ere was thrown out from inside enough to 
make a complete fortification. 

"By daylight the hogsheads were mounted 
one upon another until they commanded the en- 
emy's position and demonstrated the feasibility 
of the i)lans of Colonel Prince. A few days after 
the place surrendered. On another occasion, dur- 
ing the early part of the siege of Port Hudson, 
Colonel Prince ascertained from negroes along 
Thompson's creek that the rebels had two steam- 
ers nicely moored under their river batteries and 
but slightly guarded on account of the supposecl 
impossibility of getting at them. Colonel Prince 
obtained permission from General Banks (Grier- 
son refusing permission ) to undertake the cap- 
ture of these boats. }{e succeeded where others 
failed, and moved them from under their batter- 
ies to the protection of the stars and stripes, 
showing great tact, energy and perseverance. 
While on the way to capture the boats Colonel 
Prince received orders from General Grearson 
■directing him to return and rest the men and 



horses, to which Colonel Prince paid no attention. 
The names of the boats were "Starlight" and 
"Red Chief." He was promoted colonel of the 
Seventh Illinois Cavalry Regiment in the fall of 
1862. This regiment was organized at Camp 
Butler, near Springfield, in August, 1861, and 
mustered into the United States service in Oc- 
tober. Colonel Prince was mustered out at the 
expiration of his term of service by order of Gen- 
eral Washburn a])out the middle of October, 
1864." 

In 1873, Colonel Prince, at the earnest solici- 
tation of many prominent citizens, made a con- 
tract with the city to build the Quincy Water 
Works, and supply the city with water. The 
plan was a small beginning, with a small outlay, 
and a gradual growth to meet tlie demands of 
the city. He invested all the means he had as 
well as all he could borrow, and after the com- 
pletion of the works sold out tO' invest his means 
in more profitable enterprises in order to clear 
himself from debt and to cease being the target at 
which every designing and unscrupulous ijolitical 
aspirant might aim. His efforts, however, re- 
sulted in giving Ouiiicy the best system of water 
works in the west and at the least cost to the city. 
The designs and plans for the machinerv fi>r the 
storage and distriliution of water ha\-e been 
proved by trial to be of the best, and no accidents 
nor failures have attended the enterprise. The 
n:aking, laying and securing eighteen hundred 
feet of inlet pipe obliquel}' across the current of 
the Mississippi river, and the sunken crib for the 
ii>take at the up-river end, have excited the 
favorable comment of engineers throughout the 
country. 

Colonel Prince has devoted his time of late 
years to engineering, and lias a splendid library, 
ir. many languages, upon that subject. He un- 
derstands and reads well Greek, Latin and Dutch 
and speaks English, German, French and Span- 
ish. He is a hard student and close observer; is 
iH'.pretentious, easy to approach, and as a neigh- 



ii6 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



bor, citizen, husband and father, is a man entirely 
vvitiiout reproach. 

He is a man of diverse talents, vigorous intel- 
lect and has a i)ractical knowledge of the every- 
day affairs of life, which has been of material 
benefit to himself and others. 



His disposition is kind, cordial and sympa- 
tl-.etic and has won for him a wide circle of 
friends, to whom he is loyalty itself. 

Althouig'h twice wounded he has never ap- 
plied for a pension or sought office or been a poli- 
tician. 



EDWARD JAMES FARNUM, M. D. 



:hicago, ill. 



With the progress of scientific thought the 
field of medicine has so broadened and the re- 
quirements for success have become so high that 
the most far-seeing of practitioners now invari- 
ably adopt certain specialties and confine their 
activities strictly to their several provinces. Dr. 
Farnum's specialty is surgery, and to that he is 
devoting all his energies and abilities with well- 
merited success. Althiugh still cnniparati\-ely a 
young man, he stands high in the profession, as 
a mere enumeration of the posts of honor vrhich 
he now occupies will conclusively prove. At 
present he is professor of orthopedic and clinical 
surgery in his alma mater, Bennett College ; at- 
tending surgeon tu Cook County Hospital (since 
1892), where he holds a general surgical clinic 
every week ; surgeon to Bennett Hospital ; sur- 
geon-in-chief to the Post-Graduate Polyclinic of 
Eclectic ]\Iedicine and Surgery, of which institu- 
tion he was the founder: surgeon to the Willie 
Hipp Hospital, established for treatment of chil- 
dren's diseases; surgeon to the Humboldt Park 
Sanitarium, and grand medical examiner of the 
Switchmen's .Mutual .Occident Association of 
North Chicago. Dr. Farnum is also vice-presi- 
dent of the State Eclectic Society, and a member 
of the National Eclectic Association and the Illi- 
nois State and the Chicago Medical Societies. 
Further, he is a Past Master Ma.son of Ashlar 
Lodge, a member of the Oriental Consistory, 



thirty-second degree, A. A. S. R., and an official 
of the latter body. 

Dr. Farnum's father, Henry James Farnum, 
comes of a substantial Scotch family, and his 
mother, Elizabeth Shell, is a descendant of one 
of the old Dutch families of New York state. In 
1838 his parents removed from the Empire state 
to Sauk county, Wisconsin, where he was born in 
1 86 1. There were three children in the family, 
and here on a farm lived the son, Edward James 
Farnum, up to the period of early manhood. In 
common with boys so situated, he enjoyed a 
healthful life, composed of about equal parts of 
district schooling and light work, and in due time 
was sent to Barboo high school, from which he 
graduated in 1879. He still continued his farm 
labors, but during the summer following his 
giaduation took a prospecting trip through Da- 
kota, Montana, Colorado' and Nebraska. The 
youth returned, however, to his old home, where 
he taught school for three years, continuing his 
studies in botany, geologj^ and zoology, for which 
he had always a great passion. He not only 
studied but made valuable collections, and not a 
few scientific, along quite original lines. 

In 1882, when of age. Dr. Fanium married 
Anna S. Lanich, living for some two years on 
the old homestead occupied in study and teach- 
ing. In 1884 he remo\-ed to IMadison to enter 
the scientific department of the State University, 





'^^?^^ 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



119 



but upon the death of his wife during tlie suc- 
ceeding year he determined upon the study of 
medicine. Graduating from Bennett College in 
1S89, Dr. I'arnum at once entered intO' practice, 
and has now a business and a reputation which 
might be the pride of one who- has seen thrice his 
length of professional service. His progress has 
been uninterrupted both as a practitioner and a 
professional teacher. Irrespective of school dis- 
tinctions, his fellow surgeons also often call upon 
him either in consultation or tO' operate, and his 
clinics at the County Hospital are acknowledged 
by all to be of intense interest and full of instruc- 
tion. Bennett Medical College stands now among 



the leading eclectic medical institutions of the 
country, and Dr. Farnum has done much to bring 
it to that position. He has been manager and 
resident physician of Bennett Hospital, and for a 
nuinl>er of years has deli\'eretl two lectures and 
conducted one public clinic per week throughout 
each collegiate season. Of commanding per- 
sonal presence, courteous and refined. Dr. Far- 
num nnpresses all as being a man of determina- 
tion and remarkable balance of character. That 
such is the fact is evident from his short but bril- 
liant career in Chicago, and, as he is still a young- 
man, it is safe to predict even higher honors in 
store for him than those he has already earned. 



BEN FRANKLIN CALDWELL 

CHATHAM, ILL. 



Ben F. Caldwell, member of congress from 
the seventeenth district of Illinois, banker, 
farmer and formerly state senator, was born on a 
farm near Carrollton, Green county, Illinois, Au- 
gust 2. 1848 and is a son of John and Mary Jane 
Caldwell. In April 1853, he removed with his 
parents to near Chatham, in Sangamon county, 
Illinois, where he now resides. He was educated 
at the common and high schools of Chatham. 
He was a member of the board of supervisors of 
Sangamon county in 1877 and 1878, and in 1878 
was chairman of the board ; was a member of 
tlie Illinois house of representatives, 1882-1886, 
and while a member of the house was chairman 
of the finance committee ; was a member of the 
Illinois state senate, 1890-1894, and while a mem- 
ber of the state senate was chairman of the com- 
mittee on banks and banking. He resides on a 
farm nine miles from Springfield and two miles 
from Chatham, and where he has resided since 
April, 1833. He assisted in the organization of 
the Farmers National Bank of Springfield, from 



the presidencv of which he resigned since his 
electio-n to congress, and of which he had been 
president thirteen years ; also assisted in the 
formatio-n of the Caldwell State Bank, of Chat- 
ham, of which he has lieen president since its or- 
ganization, and to the presidency of which he 
was re-elected in January, 1901 ; was defeated 
for congress in the seventeenth Illinois in 1896, 
by James A. Connelly, Republican, by a plurality 
of only ninety-nine votes; was re-nominated by 
acclamatii )n in 1 898, and elected to the fifty-sixth 
congress by a plurality of two thousand two hun- 
dred and forty ; again re-nominated by acclama- 
tion in 1900, and elected to the fifty-seventh con- 
gress by a ])lurality of two thousand and twenty- 
five votes. 

Mr. Caldwell is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, 
a member of the Knigiits of Pythias and a mem- 
ber of the Red Men. Politically he is a Democrat, 
and in religious matters a Protestant. He has 
traveled extensively in this country and Europe. 

Mr. Caldwell was married ^lay 2y. 1873, to 



I20 



PROMIXEXT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Miss Julia F. Cloud. They have two children: tucky. and John H. Caldwell, married to Miss 
Mar\' Jane Caldwell, married to ex-Congressman Laura B. Hickox. residing- in Springfield, Illi- 
Oscar Turner, now residing in Louisville, Ken- nois. 



HON. RICHARD S. THOMPSON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




Richard S. Thompson was hurn at Cape May 
Court House, Cape May county, Xew Jersey, De- 
cember 27, 1837, and is a descendant on his 
father's side of an old south Jersey family who 
settled there in 1765. His mother's ancestors 
also settled in Xew Jersey in 
] 730. His parents were Richard 
and Elizabetli Thompson. His 
r,-. >«- mcither was a daughter of ]\Iajor 

Xathaniel Holmes, and a de- 
scendant of John Hand, born in 
4«^^^^ Kent County, England, who came 
tn America in 1635; resided in 
East Hamptun, Long Island, 
from 1648 to 1660, when he died there. His 
father was a pri miinent citizen of South Jersey, 
a member of the general assembly in 1837, a 
large land owner, and was interested in coasting 
vessels. 

At the age of thirteen Richard entered the 
Xorristnwn Seminary, Pennsylvania, where he 
remained three years, and was then placed as a 
pupil under Rev. A. Scovel. a Presb\'terian 
clergyman of Bordentown, New Jersey, where 
he remained four years. The next two years lie 
continued his studies with A. I. Fish, LL. D., of 
Philadelphia, a scholar of rare attainments. In 
1859 he entered the Law Department of Harvard 
College, and graduated in 1861. Returning to 
Philadelphia, he continued his studies with his 
preceptor, Mr. Fish, and early in i86j was ad- 
mitted to the Philadelphia bar. While prose- 
c\-.ting his law studies he was a member of Cap- 
tain Biddle's Artillery Company of Philadelphia. 



In August, 1862, under the call of President 
Lincoln, Mr. Thompson, as captain, raised a 
company of \olunteers in twelve days, and re- 
ported at camp with a full company, which was 
mustered in as Company K in the Twelfth Re.gi- 
ment, X'ew Jersey Volunteers. The regiment 
was shortly afterward stationed at Ellicott's 
Mills, Maryland, and Mr. Thompson was ap- 
pointed assistant provost-marshal under General 
Wood, filling the position until the regiment was 
ordered to the front. His regiment joined the 
Army of the Potomac, and was placed in the Sec- 
ond Brigade. Second Army Corps, occupying a 
position on the Rappahannock three miles above 
Falmouth, near Fredericksburg, Virginia. On 
February 16, Mr. Thompson was appointed 
judge advocate of a division court marshal. 

.-\t Chancellorsville he distinguished himself 
by contributing largely in protecting' the right 
flank of the L'nion troops when actively engaged 
in a field in the rear of the Chancellorsville house. 
The journal accounts of that battle give great 
credit to Capt. Thompson, who, after his brigade 
commander and staff were captured by the enemy 
and the colonel of his regiment seriously 
wounded, and while the larger portion of the 
brigade was falling back in the face of a close and 
terrific fire upon its right flank, assumed com- 
mand, ordered the retiring color bearers back into 
position, reformed the broken line upon a new 
front and held the position against three charges 
of the enemy until the onslaught on that position 
was abandoned. His calm judgment never for- 
sook him- in the heat of that terrible battle. The 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



121 



Struggle liad been severe; a portion of the time a 
hand-to-hand tight. One hundred and sixty of 
his regiment had been killed or wounded and 
twenty-three were missing. 

At the battle of Gettysburg, on the 2d and 
3d of July, 1863, wliile Capt. Thompson was act- 
ing as major of the regiment on the morning of 
the 2d, a portion of his regiment charged a stone 
barn on the rebel skirmish line hlletl with rebel 
sliarpshooters, and captured them, taking from 
the barn more prisoners than there were men in 
the charging party. During the night the rebels 
regained possession of the barn, and the next 
morning Brigadier General Alexander Hayes, 
commanding the division, ordered a regiment 
from another brigade to charge the barn. They 
advanced until they came under tire, when the 
storm of shot was so terrific that they laid down 
and failed to advance further. Thereupon Act- 
ing Major Thompson, in command of five com- 
panies from his regiment and oi a portion of the 
First Delaware, charged, took the barn and cap- 
tured a number of prisoners. 

On this memoral:)le day, July 3d, the ptisition 
of the Twelfth New Jersey Volunteers was in the 
Second Brigade, Third Division, Second Army 
Corps (Hancock's), which held the left center, 
or, which the artillery of General Lee was con- 
centrated, and against which the furious cliarge 
was made. 0\er eigiit hundred rebel dead were 
buried on the two hundred yards of front occu- 
pied by the Second Brigade, and fourteen hun- 
dred stand of arms were picked tip upon the same 
fmnt. Major Thompson's behavior on that day 
received sjieoial notice, not only from Colonel 
Smyth, who commanded the brigade, but also 
from Gen. .Mexander Hayes, who was in com- 
mand of that division. Limited space prevents 
the insertion of the letters on this matter. 

On .August 20, 1864, during tlie demonstra- 
tion made under the command of Gen. Hancock 
on the north bank of the James river. Colonel 
Thompson was selected, upon the recommenda- 



tion of Gen. Thomas Smyth, to take charge of 
the withdrawal of the Corps pickets and skir- 
mishers, a matter of no small dit^culty from the 
fact that the line was four itiiles long, and in some 
places not more than fifty yards from the rebel 
skirmishers. The line had to be maintained until 
the main body of the corps had crossed the river. 
For his services on this occasion Colonel Tliomp- 
son has an autograph letter from General Han- 
cock. June II, 1864, Colonel Thompson was put 
in command of a provincial battalion at Alex- 
andria, Virginia, and reported to General Butler 
at Bermuda Hundred, and remained in com- 
mand at Point of Rocks, Virginia, on the Appo- 
mattox, until June 28, 1864, when he turned over 
his command at headquarters, Army of Potomac, 
and rejoined his regiment. 

Colonel Thompson, with his regiment, took 
part in seventeen general engagements, aniong 
which may be mentioned Chancellorsville, Gettys- 
burg, Auburn Mills, Bristow Station, Blackburn's 
Ford, Robinson's Tavern, Mine Run and Ream's 
Station. In the last named, south of Petersburg, 
Virginia, on August 25, 1864. a rebel column 
had broken the Union line, captured a battery, 
and was using the railway embankment as a 
breastwork. In answer to a call for volunteers to 
charge the column. Colonel Thomjison vdun- 
teered his command, and with three other regi- 
ments, charged through a sugar cane field, drove 
the rebels from their position and recaptured the 
battery. While leading his men in this charge 
he was severely wounded in the side and hand by 
shells. He was sent to Philadelphia for treat- 
ment, and was confined to his bed until Novem- 
ber. In December, 1864, while still on crutches, 
he was detailed as president of a general court- 
martial sitting at Philadelphia, in which duty he 
continued until about the middle of February, 
1865, although still sufifering from his wounds. 
He now tendered his resignation, and received an 
honorable discharge on account of physical dis- 
ability occasioned by wounds received in battle. 



122 



PROMIXEXT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



June 7, 1865, he married Catherine Scovel, 
daughter of Rev. A. Scovel, then of Blooming- 
ton, Illinois, and in November entered upon the 
practice of law in Chicago. In 1867 he formed 
a partnership with Jeremiah Leaming, which con- 
tinued until 1885. In 1869 he was appointed 
corporation counsel of the village of Hyde Park, 
a position he held until 1876. In 1872 he was 
elected on the Republican ticket to the Illinois 
senate from the second senatorial district. As a 
member of the senate he distinguished himself as 
possessing a familiar accjuaintance with parlia- 
mentaiT law. On more than one occasion Mr. 
Thompson manifested his power in a manner to 
call forth the encomiums of jurists and of the 
press. 

There are two cases which may l^e specially 
mentioned in which the tact and skill of Senator 
Thompson were very remarkable — one was the 
contested election case of Shering vs. Marshall ; 
the other, Senator Lee's motion to reconsider the 
vote by which the senate bill to regulate the sale 
of intoxicating liquors was indefinitely post- 
poned. The Chicago Tribune says : "The event 
of the week occurred in the senate. To the op- 
position it was the signal defeat of the session. 
The defeat of this plan of gaining two votes ad- 
ditional for the United States senatorial contest 



was due to the masterly argument of Senator 
Thompson, of Cook, who, in thorough lawyer- 
like style, analyzed the entire testimony, and with 
logical precision exposed the utter illegality of 
the attempt to unseat the choice of the legal voters 
on an abstract technicality. No speech in either 
house at the session has compared with it in 
logical force, precision of statement, clear analysis 
of premises and unanswerable deductions from 
the facts." 

The part taken by Senator Thompson on 
Senator Lee's motion to reconsider the vote of 
the previous day is thus spoken of by the Chicago 
Times : "A series of filibustering motions and 
points of order began, which, for brilliancy of 
thought and celerity of action, have never been 
surpassed on the floor of the senate. They were 
initiated by Thompson, of Cook, and the result 
stamped him as the ablest parliamentarian in the 
Senate." 

In 1876 Colonel Thompson was appointed 
attorney of the South Park Commission, and 
held that position until the spring of 1880. 
Colonel Thompson is a member oi many social 
organizations and clubs, among which may be 
mentioned the Union League, Loyal Legion and 
Kenwood Clubs. Of the last named club he has 
served as director and also as president. 



SAMUEL W. MCMUNN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Samuel W. McMuim, one of the distir.guisheil 
and representative men of Chicago, was born at 
Sharon, Noble county, Ohio, March 20, 1850, 
and is a son of Isaac and Maria (Moore) Mc- 
Munn. He was educated at the common schools 
of his town and at Sharon Academy. 

He left home in February, 1870, and was em- 
ployed in Kansas City, Missouri, as a representa- 
tive of the Ohio River Salt Company. In July 
of the same vear he went to St. Louis, ^Missouri, 



in the same capacity, and later became a partner in 
the firm of G. L. Joy & Company, successors to 
the Ohio River Salt Company. January i, 1878, 
he organized and was president of the American 
Transportation Company, and later organized 
and was made president of the American Brake 
Company, and in this capacity he took a leading 
part in securing the use of the automatic coupler, 
and in the subsequent legislation compelling their 
use. Later for five years he was special agent for 



^^=8*^0'- 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



125 



the Carnegie Steel Company, Limited, and is 
now president and treasurer of the Kendl Car 
Truck Company, and senior member of the firm 
of S. \V. McMunn & Company, with offices in 
the Merchants Loan & Trust building of Chicago. 
Mr. McMunn is a RepubHcan and while not a 
politician lie always takes a deep interest in the 
affairs of his party. He is a member of the 
Lotus and Engineers Clubs of New York, and 
Technical and Hamilton Clubs, of Chicago. He 
is a Mason and is a memlier nf the Blue Lodge, 
Tuscan, No. 360, of St. Louis, and Englewood 
commandery of Chicago, and No. 9 Lodge of 
Elks of St. Louis. 



He was married December 4, 1878, to Miss 
Jessie Northrup, of Belpre, Ohio, and a daughter 
of W. W. and Melissa Belpre, and whose mater- 
nal great-grandfather, after serving through the 
whole of the war of the Revo-lution as an offi- 
cer, came with General Rufus Putnam, a relative, 
as one of the original settlers at Marietta, Ohio. 
Mrs. McMunn is a lady of culture and charming 
personality. They have two children, William 
Northrup, born January 12. 1880, and Mary 
Wayne McMunn, born October 23, 1883. 

Mr. McMunn is a man of broad views, with 
a courteous, affable manner, which renders him 
a general fa\-orite in business and social circles. 



DONALD M. CARTER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Mr. Donald I\L Carter, junior member of the 
well-known firm of Parker & Carter, is one of 
tlie brilliant young lawyers of the Chicago bar. 
Mr. Carter was born at Collins\ille, Madison 
county, Illincjis, and his father, Henr_\- T. Car- 
ter, was born in Maryland and 
came tO' Illinois in his youth. He 
there married the mother of the 
subject of this sketch, whose 
maiden name was Marium Smith. 
Henry T. Carter, the father, died 
during the early youth of his son 
Donald, leaving .several children 
to be reared and educated by the 
mother, who was a woman of 
discretion and good judgment, and very anxious 
that her children should have every possible facil- 
ity for recei\-ing an education. The common 
schools in Madison count}" were 1 if a high class, 
and in these Donald M. Carter laitl the founda- 
tion for an education. After graduating from 
high school he attended a commercial college in 




St. Lciuis f(jr a short time, but, not being attracted 
by this line of education, soon gave it up. He 
entered the Iowa State College at Ames, Iowa, 
taking a course in mechanical and electrical en- 
gineering, and graduated from that institution 
in 1 89 1. He at once obtained employment as an 
engineer and continued in the service until 1893. 
He then entered the law office of Francis W. 
Parker, of Chicago, and at once laegan the study 
of law. As his time during the day was fully 
occupied, he attended night school in Chicago 
College of Law and finished a course in that in- 
stitution in 1895, when, upon the usual examina- 
tion, he was admitted to the bar and licensed by 
the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois. The 
following year Mr. Carter took a post graduate 
course in the law department of Lake Forest 
University, graduating from that institution in 
1896. He then felt quite qualified to undertake 
the important duties of a law office in Chicago, 
and soon found an opportunity of taking an ac- 
tive hand in the practice of his profession. Mr. 



126 



PRO-MIXEXT :\IEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



with his ijrofessiunal lirethren at llie Chicago 
I a; . 

Mrs. Carter, liis nintlier. is still li\ing at this 
w ritin_^' and takes threat ]jri(le in the hunorahle 



Parker was called to Eurdpc on important Inisi- 
ness in 1S07 and Mr. Carter was ^iven entire 
charge of the office and ])ractice. L'piai the re- 
turn of ]\Ir. Parker from Europe he invited Mr. 
Carter to a jjartnership in his husiness, and the 
firm of I'arker & Carter was estahlished where Chicago Mr. Carter has heconie a memher of the 
they now ha\e offices, 1410 Marquette Building. Union League Clul), the Hamilton Club and the 
CMiicago. Mr. Carter deservedly stands high Kmal Arcanum. 



career and success of her son. Since coming to 



LEWIS L COBURN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Among the distinguished members of the sit\- of Vermont, frmn which he received the de- 
Chicago bar no one holds a more honored place gree of B. A. in 1^59. His inclinations led to- 
than Lewis L. Coburn. A complete record of wards the study of law. He had read much dur- 
his legal ser\-ices in his l)ranch of the legal ir.g his college vacations and so well had he ad- 
profession, '"Patent Law." wduld lie little \'anced that upon entering the Harvard Law 
less than a transcript nf most all the famous School he was graduated in 1861, and admitted 
cases in that line that have been ti> practice at Boston, becoming a member of the 
determined by the courts setting I^sse.x county l)ar, than which no more scholarly 
in the western metropolis. ad\'ocatcs are to be foinul in America. 

Mr. Coburn was born at East Soon after his admission to practice Mr. Co- 
Abjutijclier, Vermont, November l)in-n came to Chicago, in the rising fame of 
2, 1834, His father. Earned Co- which he correcth' saw a prospect of commer- 
bnrn, was a wealthv farmer with cial greatness. Becoming a partner of the late 
a strong leaning towards public William E. ]\larss. .Mr. Coliurn soon found him- 
affairs. He served f<ir several self the head of a firm, whose practice was 
terms as a member of the legisla- botli large and lucrative. While on a visit to his 
ture (jf his state. Lewis L. is the youngest child. old home in Vermont he, in common with the 
He attended the district school of his neighbor- whnlc nation, was stirred liy President Lincoln's 
h(jod in the winter aiul in the fall and spring call for troops. He went into active service as 
studied at the local academy, which at that time cajitain of a Vermont regiment that was in the 
Was regarded as a sort of high schoul, Init with front during the great fight at Gettysburg. Re- 
true New England thrift and wisdom, his par- turning later on to Chicago he resumed his prac- 
ents, though well to do, insisted on his taking lice with Mr. Marss. 

part in the lighter labor of the farm during sum- The years immediately succeeding the war 

nier and harvest time. At the early age of six- were times of prenomenal industrial and mental 

teen Mr. Coburn became a teacher of the district activity, and the increase of patent law business 

school, and he achieved an enviable reputation was great. The practice of Cobtn"g & Marss grew 

as a pedagogue. After a preparatory academic to great proportions, indeed its pressure was toO' 

course at Barre, Mr. Coburn entered the Univer- strong for the feeble cnnstitutinn df Mr. Marss,.. 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



127 



whii lin.ke dnwn Irom 1 1\ (.twi irk and diuil in 
186S. Ec'ft alc.iH' .Mr. C'lilmrn Cdmlnctcd the 
business bv the aid of an eHicient and lai\t;"e staft 
of clerks until 1S75, wlien iiis did friend and 
classmate. Ibju. Juhn M. I'hatcher. Ijecame his 
partner. The ma.^'nitude of Mr. Cnliuni's busi- 
ness may Ije inferred from the fact that Mr. 
Thatcher resigned the office of United States 
commissioner of patents to take part in it. Since 
then there have been few really great patent liti- 
gationTs in which Mr. Co.burn's office lias niit been 
retained on one side or the other. The partner- 
ship of Ci.iljurii iS: Thatcher continued until 1896, 
when i\Ir. Thatcher's health failed and he was 
•obliged to retire. Mr. Coburn then took some 
younger men as partners, the firm now being Co- 
burn, McRoberts & McElroy. 

Outside of his legal associations Mr. Coburn 
is well known as a public-spirited gentleman of 
scholarly tastes. He was one of the founders 
of the Chicago Atheneum, and was the first pres- 
ident of the Union League Club of Chicago. 
Mr. Coburn is a large property holder in Chicago 
and has manifested a vital interest in all mat- 
ters relative to state and municipal government. 



'I hough frequently solicited to become a candi- 
date for congressional honors, lie has preferred 
to enjoy a ]>ri\'ate life. 

y\r. Coljurn's rel.a.xation from his professional 
labors has been largely obtained in bunting 
prairie chickens and ducks on his own land, 
which he bouglit at an early day in southern 
Minnesota. When game became .scarce Ijv reason 
of \-illages springing up on and contiguous to 
his holdings, he commenced improving. He has 
Innlt during the last fifteen years some tv,-enty 
sets of farm buildings with the accompanying 
farm improvements, such as fencing, deep wells, 
windmills, etc., required fijr stock raising, dairy- 
ing and general farming. 

Mr. Coburn was married to Miss Annie G. 
Swan at Brooklyn, New York, on June 23. 1880. 
They have a "pleasant home in Chicago and are 
most hospitable entertainers. 

As a lawyer we can pay him no higher tribute 
than to say that he is by all regarded as one of 
the leaders in patent law, not only in the state 
of Illinois, but in the United States. His ability 
arid integrity of purpose are conceded as a mat- 
ter of course bv all who know him. 



HON. CHARLES FREDERICK SCOTT 



lOLA, KAN. 



Hon. Charles F. Scott, member of congress, 
at large, from the state of Kansas, is a repre- 
sentative Republican leader and newspaper 
owner. He is a son of John W. and Maria 
{ Protsman ) .Scott, and was born in Allen county, 
Kansas. September 7, i860. He was educated 
in the i)ublic schools and at the University of 
Kansas, from which he graduated in 1881 with 
the degree of P.. S., receiving his Master's degree 
some years later. 

After leaving- the university he went west 
and spent a year and a half in Colorado, New 



Mexico and Arizona. In the latter part of 1882 
lie returned to lola, Kansas, the countv seat of 
his native county, and lx>ught a small interest in 
the lola Register, a weekly newspaper. In the 
course of the next five years he had obtained 
entire control of the pa])er, which he has ever 
since continued to publish and edit Ijoth as a daily 
and weekly. 

Mr. Scott served as state senator from 1892 
to 1896, and has been regent of the State Uni- 
versity from 1891 to 1901. He was president 
of the State Editorial Association in 1893 and 



128 PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 

president of the Republican State League in He was elected representative at large to the 

1895. In 1896 he represented his congressional fifty-seventh congress in 1900. 

district on the Republican electoral ticket, and Mr. Scott was married in 1893 to Miss May 

has been president of the Kansas Day Club, an Brevard Ewing. Thev are the jiarents of three 

organization of young Republicans of the state. children. 



JOSEPH A. O'DONNELL 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Joseph A. O'Donnell was born in the town of 
Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland, December 23, 
1859, liis parents being Patrick and Catherine 
(Nellis) O'Donnell, members of the famous 
O'Donnell family of Ireland. In 1866 they 
brought their children to the new world, locating 
in Chicago, and Joseph pursued his education in 
St. Patrick's Academy, of this city, and in the 
public schools. The family was in limited cir- 
cumstances and he was obliged to find employ- 
ment, that he might aid in the support of the other 
children. He entered upon his business career 
as an office boy and later was apprenticed to a 
mechanical engineer. He applied himself with 
great diligence to the thorough mastery of the 
work, and when only twenty-two years of age 
was appointed to the position of foreman. Dur- 
ing most of this time he attended a night school 
and studied mechanical ilrawing, engineering and 
other kindred subjects, eagerly embracing every 
opportunity for gaining a comprehensive knowl- 
edge of his trade. 

The arduous labors which he performed, how- 
ever, undermined his health and led to his de- 
terminatiiin to make the practice of law his life 
work. He had previously read Blackstone's 
"Comiifientaries on English Law" and Kent's 
"Commentaries on American Law," and had also 
studied Latin during his leisure hours in morn- 
ing and evening. He was graduated in the 
Union Law College of Chicago, in 1887. with 
the degree of LL. B., won a senior diploma, and 



later took a post-graduate course, winning the 
degree of Master of Laws. From the beginning 
he has been very successful in his practice and 
has always enjoyed an extensive and lucrative 
clientage. He is of a studious disposition and is 
very thorough and exact in the preparation and 
conduct of the litigated interests entrusted to 
his care. 

While Mr. O'Donnell has won a creditable 
position at the Chicago bar, he has also become 
prominent in political circles and his influence is 
strongly marked in the councils of the Democratic 
party, with which he has been associated since 
attaining his majority. In 1889. 1891 and 1893 
he was elected from the ninth district to the gen- 
eral assembly, and was also in attendance at the 
special session called to consider the World's 
Fair bill. During the last two sessions he was a 
member of the steering cummittee of the house, 
and his able management led to not a few suc- 
cesses for his party. He was instrumental in 
secin-ing the passage of a number of important 
bills, and it was through his efforts that the 
Australian ballot law was placed on the statute 
l>ooks of this commonwealth. Fhe h\\\ was in- 
troduced and engineered by ii m through the 
house. He was well known as one of the leading 
orators of the assembly, and \.-hile he did not 
resort to the use of flowery phrases to any ex- 
tent, his sound logic and evident belief in all he 
advocated produced great efifect upon his audi- 
tors. He was also associated with the "one hun- 




ii-CML^UK^JBCQC"! 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



•31 



dred and one" who secured the election of Gen- 
eral Palmer as United States senator. 

In 1886 Mr. O'Donnell married Miss Rose 
E. Dugan, whose father, Thomas Dugan, was 
one of the pioneers of Chicago O'f 1833. He be- 
longs to a number of prominent Irish societies, 
and in addition holds membership in the Royal 
League, Ancient Order of United Workmen, 



National Union and the Knights of the Macca- 
bees. For five years he was a member of the 
Second Regiment, Illinois State Militia, in which 
he held the rank of first lieutenant. In his re- 
ligious associations he is a Roman Catholic. In 
1894 he revisited the land of his birth, and also 
viewed many of the places of historic and mod- 
ern interest in England and Scotland. 



MARTIN KINGMAN 

PEORIA, ILL. 



The subject of this sketch was born in Deer 
Creek township, Tazewell count}-, Illinois, April 
I, 1844, the youngest of a family of four boys, 
his father being a native of Massachusetts and 
his mother of Virginia. They emigrated to 
Tazewell county, Illinois, in 1834. 

When Martin was four years old his father 
died, leaving his mother with the four boys on a 
farm in an uninhabited western country. Yoimg 
Kingman attended district school in winter, 
working on the farm in summer, and wdien four- 
teen years of age started out in the world to 
make his own living, working the first year, in 
the summer, at eight dollars per month, and the 
second year at ten dollars, attending school in 
the winter, during which time he attended the 
Washington (Illinois) Academy, and advanced 
in his studies very rapidly, teaching his first 
school when he was only seventeen years of age. 

When the war broke out one of his older 
brothers enlisted, and when Martin was eight- 
een years of age he volunteered, and went 
out as a private in Company G, 86th Illinois In- 
fantry, and served until the close of the war, re- 
turning a first lieutenant. The latter part of his 
army service was upon the staff of Col. Dan 
McCook, of the Third Brigade, Second Division, 
Fourteenth Amiy Corps. 

Mr. Kingman is ver}- proud of his war serv- 



ice, having served three years without the loss of 
a single day from his command, either by sick- 
ness, leave of absence or otherwise. He took 
part in the campaign to Chattanooga, under 
General Rosecrans and General Thomas, was in 
the battles of Chickamauga and Missionary 
Ridge, and marched to the relief oi Burnside at 
Nashville. He was in the campaign under Sher- 
man and Thomas, tO' and including the capture 
of Atlanta, and then marched to the sea and the 
capture of Savannah, and thence through South 
Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia to Wash- 
ington. He was present at the surrender oi Gen. 
Joe JohnstiDn to General Sherman. 

After the war Mr. Kingman engaged in sev- 
eral differerit lines of business, until January i, 
1S67, when he entered the agricultural machin- 
er)' firm of Kingman & Dunham, and will have 
given thirty-five years to this business on Jan- 
uary I, 1902. In 1882 the business was organ- 
ized as Kingman & Company, with a paid up 
capital of six hundred thousand doillars. The 
business has grown until now they have seven 
branch houses, located at St. Louis, Kansas City, 
Omaha, Des Moines, Minneapolis, Dallas 
(Texas) and Madison, Wisconsin. (The last 
named has been located at Milwaukee until re- 
cently). The Kingman Plow Company and the 
Peoria Cordage Company have been organized. 



132 



PROMLXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



and Mr. Kingman is president and a large stock- 
liolder in botli of these concerns. He is also 
president of the Illinois X'ational Bank, one of 
the most successful banks at Peoria. 

Mr. Kingman has held the position of canal 
commissioner for the state of Illinois for six years. 
On the breaking out of the Spanish war he as- 
sisted in raising what is known as the Peoria 
Regiment, and was elected lieutenant-colonel of 
the same, but it was not called into service. He 
has always been a strong Republican, and has 
assisted the party in his city and district. He 
is a member of the First Congregational church 



of Peoria, and served two years as president of 
the Young Men's Christian Association. 

He was married on ]^Iay 21, 1867, to Miss 
Emeline T. Shelly, the result of the union being 
four sons and one daughter. Two sons have 
died, and his other two sons are connected witli 
Iiim in business, L. S. Kingman being vice-presi- 
dent of the Kingman Plow Company, and W. 
B. Kingman being vice-president of Kingman S: 
Company. 

The several companies with which Mr. King- 
man is connected now employ a capital of up- 
Mi.ards of two millions of dollars. 



FRANK FARNSWORTH HOLMES 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Frank Farnsworth Holmes, the third son of 
S. R. Holmes and Rosette (Farnsworth) 
Holmes, was born in Warsaw, Illinois, He is 
descended on his father's side from Abraham 
Holmes, one of the original Scotch-Irish emi- 
grants and charterites who set- 
tled in Londonderry, Xew Hamp- 
shire, in 1719: on his mother's 
side from Matthias Farnsworth, 
of Groton. Massachusetts. On 
both sides his ancestors partici- 
])ate(l in tlie Colonial wars, the 
Revolutii.inary \\'ar. the \\'ar of 
1S12 and the War of the Re- 
bellion. 

After attending the ])rivate and public 
schools of his native town his parents moved 
to Gale.sburg, Illinois, where JNIr. Holmes 
graduated from Knox College in 1880. The 
same year he came tO' Chicago, where he went 
into the fire insurance Ijusiness, to which he has 
since continuously given his time, having served 
in every subordinate position in a general agency 




and then fnr five years on the road as special 
agent and adjuster for the Royal Insurance Com- 
pany. In 1887 he went mto the local fire in- 
surance business, establishing the firm of Frank 
F. Holmes & Co., which still continues under the 
same name and at the same location. From 
his experience in his profession he was con- 
vinced that his best success as a local fire insur- 
ance agent would follow conscientious study and 
efl:'ort to secure such a class of construction in 
buildings as would reduce the possibility of de- 
struction by fire to a minimum. His knowledge 
of construction led the Chicago Underwriters' 
Association to select him as their representative 
on the Examining Board of the Chicago Build- 
ing Department, that being the first civil service 
board recognized by ordinance in the city of Chi- 
cago. His ability in this particular line was read- 
ilv acknowledged by the architects and builders 
with whom he was thrown in contact and by 
wliom he is frequently consulted in an effort to 
secure the best construction from a fire hazard 
standjiiMnt. which means a minimum ]iremium 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



133 



on the values at risk. In 1899 Mr. Holmes was 
elected secretary and treasurer of the National 
Association of Local Fire Insurance Agents at 

their annual convention held in Buffalo, to which 



position he has been unanimously re-elected every 
year since, and has also been elected a member 
of the executive committee of the Chicago Un- 
derwriters' Association. 



EDWARD OSGOOD BROWN 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



Mr. Edward O. Brown, the well-known and 
highly respected corporation lawyer, has been a 
practitioner at the Chicago bar for over a quar- 
ter of a centur}-. He is a native of New England, 
and was born in Salem, JMassachusetts. His 
parents were Edward and Eliza Osgood (Dal- 
ton) Brown. His birth occurred August 5, 1847. 
His family is of English origin, although con- 
nected with the history of America through many 
generations. The first American ancestor was 
John Brown, who located in Ipswich, Essex 
county, Massachusetts, some time before 1650. 
Many representatives of the name were shipmas- 
ters and merchants, and the grandfather of our 
subject was one of the famous skillful and daring 
navigators, who, about the beginning of the cen- 
tur}% made Salem known throughout the civilized 
world. At one time, single handed, he drove a 
piratical band of ^Malays from a ship, killing 
eight and disabling many more. 

In the historic old town of Salem, Edward 
Osgood Brown was reared to manhood, acquir- 
ing his preliminary education in the public 
schools. Later he was a student in Brown Uni- 
versity in Providence, Rhode Island, and later 
in the Harvard Law School, of Cambridge, Mas- 
sachusetts, pursuing his professional education. 
For a year following his collegiate course in 
Brown University he devoted his energies to 
teaching in St. Mark's, in Southboro, Massachu- 
setts, and then began preparation for his chosen 
vocation, — the law, — as a student in the office 
of Ives & Lincoln, prominent attorneys of Salem. 



He was graduated in the law department of 
Harvard University in the class of 1869, apply- 
ing himself with such diligence to his studies 
and to the principles of jurisprudence, that he 
took first prize for an essay on Punitive Dam- 
ages, which was later published in the Western 
Jurist. As assistant clerk of the supreme court 
of Rhode Island he served from the time of his 
graduation until 1870, when he was admitted to 
the bar of that state at Providence, and at once 
entered upon the practice of law as a member of 
the firm of Gorman & Brown, which partnership 
continued until April, 1872. At diat date Air. 
Brown came to Chicago' with Mr. Orville Peck- 
ham, a college class-mate, who for more than 
twenty-five years has been his law partner at the 
Chicago bar. Almost immediately they won 
prominence as practitioners in the western me- 
tropolis. The litigation resulting from condi- 
tions brought about by the great fire of 1871 was 
extensive and of an important character. The 
services of men of skill and ability were in 
great demand and Peckham & Brown soon 
gained wide reputation as the result of their mas- 
terful handling of important litigated interests. 
Their attention is largely given to corporation 
law and they are attorneys for the First National 
Bank of Chicago, and for many other scarcely 
less important concerns. Mr. Brown was re- 
tained in the case of the People vs. Knicker- 
bocker, called the Probate Court Case, involving 
the constitutionality of that court; in the Sani- 
tary District or Drainage cases, involving the 



134 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



constitutionality of the sanitary district laws ; 
Zirngible vs. Calumet Company, which in\olved 
a vast amount of real estate on the Calumet 
river; and the case of Roots vs. Wilson, which, 
though only a private contention, was of such 
magnitude as to awaken widespread interest. 
He represented the commissioners of Lincoln 
Park in the j\IcKee-Scrip matter, where claim- 
ants under the congressional Scrip undertook to 
locate their warrants on millions of dollars' worth 
of property along the lake shore on the North 
Side of Chicago ; and was also counsel in the 
successful suit by the \\'est Park commissioners 
against the receiver of the insolvent National 
Eank of Illinois for the amount of over three 
hundred thousand dollars held by E. S. Dreyer, 
the treasurer, at the time of the failure of that 
bank and his own. 

Mr. Brown is a member of the Chicago Bar 
Association and the Chicago Law Club. 

He was united in marriage in 1884 to Aliss 
Helen Gertrude Eagle, a representative of an 
old Detroit family and a niece of the Reverend 
A\'alter Elliott, of New York. Thev have five 



children, three sons and two daughters, namely : 
Edward Eagle, Helen Dalton, Walter Elliott, 
Robert and Mary Wilmarth. Mr. Brown is a 
member of the Roman Catholic church, a con- 
vert in his early youth. He is a valued member 
of several social organizations and literary clubs, 
and was president during the \\'orld's Fair year 
of the Alassachusetts Society of Chicago, and 
has Ijeen vice-president of the Iroquois Club and 
chairman of its political action committee. He 
belongs to the Chicago Literary, the University, 
the Sunset, the Columbus, and the Chicago Single 
Tax Clubs, and the Catholic Literary Associa- 
tion. He gives strong support to the Democracy, 
and is an ardent believer in and supporter of the 
single tax movement. He was a warm personal 
friend of Henry George, the exponent of the 
single tax idea, and has written a number of very 
\-aluable articles on that subject. He has very 
|)ronounced literary alMlity and is a forcible and 
duent writer. He is one of Illinois' great law- 
yers. His readiness, his ability, his resolution, 
his legal acumen and his eloquence draw to him 
tlie attention of the entire public. 



ALBERT H. VEEDER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



It is always a pleasure to trace the history 
■of an ambitious and successful man, one whO' in 
the prime of life has not yet lost the enthusiasm 
of youth, and whose plans for the future are 
broad and far reaching; one whose gratifying 
position has liecn achieved mainly through his 
•own efiforts, and by the aid of his own strong 
individuality. A distinguished member of the 
legal profession, and for a number of years con- 
nected with many of the largest business interests 
of Chicago and other western cities, Albert H. 
\'eeder. is tr-day one of the foremost corpora- 



tion lawyers in the west. His manner of pre- 
senting his cases in court impresses both judge 
and jury. His pleas are characterized by an elo- 
quence and sinceritv which has a weighty influ- 
ence upon all who hear him speak. 

Mr. Veeder is a member of a tine eastern fam- 
ily. His father was Henry Veeder and his 
mother, Rachel Lansing Veeder. He was born 
a: Fonda, Montgomery county, New York, April 
I, 1844. 

He was educated at the local schools of his 
native city, after which he entered Union College 





/ X:.. U. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT \\EST 



137 



of Schenectady, New York, where lie graduated 
with his class in 1865. 

In tlie years 1866, 1867 and 18O8, he had 
charge of the public schools of Galva, Illinois, 
during the scholastic sessions, studying law in 
the meantime. In the latter year he was admitted 
to the bar of Illinois, and until 1874 practiced at 
Galva. He then moved to Chicago and resumed 
the practice of law. where he soon acquired an 
enviable reputation as a corporation lawyer. He 
was attorney for the town of Lake, since incor- 
porated in the city of Chicago, from 1874 to 
1885. His successful management of the law 
affairs of Lake, — which was long known as the 
largest and most wealthy municipality that re- 
fused to accept the dignity of the title "City," 
but preferred to be known as "The town of 
Lake," — gained him the confidence of the own- 
ers of many of the great corporations doing busi- 
ness in that part of Chicagi;), and led to his large 
practice. 

Mr. \^eeder is a director of the Chicago 
Junction Railway Company, and of the Union 
Stock Yards Company ; he is also general coun- 



sel and director of the St. Louis National Stock 
Yards Company, the St. Joseph Stock Yards 
Company, the San Francisco Stock Yards Com- 
pany, Swift & Company, the Consumers Cotton 
Oil Company, of Libby, McNeill & Libby (in- 
corporated), and other equally well-known cor- 
porations. 

Mr. Veeder is a member of the Kenwood and 
the Athletic Clubs, a thirty-second-degree Mason, 
Knights Templar, member of the Scottish Rite, 
and of the Mystic Shrine. Politically, he is a Re- 
publican. 

Mr. Veeder was married to Miss Helen L., 
daughter of Rev. Isaac G. Duryea, of Schenec- 
tady, New York. They have four children, of 
whom the eldest, Henry, is engaged with his fa- 
ther in practice. Mr. Veeder is known as a 
Christian gentlenian of liberal views and scholar- 
ly tastes. All moral and social reforms receive 
his earnest support ; a widely gathered familiarity 
with the management of affairs, a broad general 
culture, a splendid presence and courteous man- 
ners, he is recognized as one of the most brilliant 
and respected members of the Chicago bar. 



HON. WILLIAM ROBERT WARNOCK, A. B., A. M., LL. D. 

URBANA, OHIO 



Hon. William R. Warnock, member of con- 
gress from the eighth district of the state of Ohio, 
judge and lawyer, was born at Urbana, Ohio, 
August 29, 1838. and is a son of Rev. David and 
Sarah (Hitt) Warnock. 

He attended the public and high schools of 
Urbana, graduating in 1855: taught school in 
1856 and 1858 at Urbana: graduated from Ohio 
Wesleyan University in July, i8r)i, receiving the 
degree of A. B., and in 1864 received the degree 
of A. M. from the same university ; commenced 
the study of law in 1861, but suspended that tn 
enter the army July 21, 1862. as captain of Com- 
9* 



pany G, Ninety-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry: was promoted to be major of the same 
regiment July 28, 1863, for gallantry at Vicks- 
burg, and was breveted lieutenant-colonel March 
15, 1865, for gallantry at the battle of Nashville: 
was chief of staff for the Eastern District of 
Mississippi from April to August, 1865; served 
for one year in the Fifteenth Army Corps and for 
two years in the Sixteenth Army Corps ; was 
mustered out of service August 14, 1865, and re- 
sumed the study of law : and was admitted to 
practice in May. 1866; was elected prosecuting 
attorney in the fall of 1867 and served two terms. 



138 



PROMIXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



from January, 1868, to January, 1872; elected 
state senator to represent the eleventh Ohio dis- 
trict and served for the years 1876 and 1877; 
was elected judge of the court of common pleas 
in the second judicial district of Ohio in 1879 ^"^ 
re-elected in 1884, and served ten years, from 
Xovember, 1879, to X'ovember, 1889; served as 
one of the board of school examiners for Cham- 
paign county from 1870 to 1876; has been trustee 
of the Ohio W'esleyan University, located at 
Delaware, since 1894; and in 1901 received the 
degree of LL. D. ; served two terms as junior 
vice-commander of the Ohio Commandery of the 
Military' Order of the Loyal Legion; served two 
terms as commander of the Ohio Commandery of 
the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, being 



elected ^lay 1, 189S, and re-elected May i, 1899; 
was a charter member of W. A. Brand Post, 
G. A. R., Urbana. and served two terms as its 
commander: was elected to the fifty-seventh con- 
gress from Ohio. 

Judge Warnock is a Knight of Pythias, a 
Master Mason, Knight Templar and a thirty- 
second degree Mason. Li religious matters a 
Methodist, and politically a Republican and a 
leader in the party ranks in his state. 

Judge Warnock was married August 20, 
1868, to Katheryn Murray, of South Charleston, 
Ohio. They have three daughters, Mable Clifford 
Warnock, Elizabeth Murray \\'arnock and Ann 
Kathryn Warnock. Elizabeth was married Oc- 
tober 22, 1901, to Mr. Clarence S. Vanderback. 



ELI B. FELSENTHAL 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Eli B. Felsenthal is known as a leading mem- 
ber of the Chicago bar, a fact which at once indi- 
cates a superior order of talent, a comprehensive 
knowledge of law. an accurate application of its 
principles to litigated points, and an absolute 
fidelity to his clients' interests. 
His name is inseparably con- 
nected with the history of juris- 
prudence in this section of the 
state. 

He is a native Chicagoan and 
was born July 14, 185S, being a 
son of Herman and Gertrude 
( Hyman ) Felsenthal. His father 
;ame to Chicago in the early 'fifties and his 
mother a year or two later. Mr. Felsenthal at- 
tended the Chicago public schools, later became 
a student in the old University of Chicago, grad- 
uating with the degree of A. B. in 1878. After a 
further course of two \"ears at the Union College 
of Law he was graduated as a lawver and re- 




ceived the "Horton Prize" for the best thesis, — 
his subject being "Limited Partnerships." Since 
then he has been constantly engaged in the prac- 
tice of law, his name appearing in many noted 
cases. 

In politics Mr. Felsenthal is a Republican, and 
has always been a stanch supporter of his party. 
He is a member of the Sinai congregation, of the 
Union League, Hamilton and Standard Clubs, 
and has been one of the board of trustees of the 
University of Chicago since its inception. He 
is a liberal contributor to the Associated Jewish 
Charities, and has always taken a keen interest 
in public affairs, an active worker in politics but 
not a candidate for ofiice. His integrity of char- 
acter and many generous qualities, together with 
his remarkablv kind and cordial address, have 
won for him personal pupularity and the highest 
respect. 

.\s a lawver he ranks high. The zeal with 
which he devotes his energies to his profession. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 139 

elicit warm commendation, and his briefs show 



the careful regard evinced for the interests en- 
trusted to his care, and the assiduous and unre- 
laxing attention to all the details of his cases 
have brought him a large business and made him 
very successful in its conduct. His arguments 



wide research and careful thought. ]\Ir. Felsen- 
thal was married in 1883 to ]\Iiss Goldsmith, of 
New York. They have five children, Agatha, 
Edward, Gertrude, Herman and Robert. 



HERMAN ELSON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Herman Elson was born August 10, 1845, in 
W'urtzburg, Germany, and emigrated to Phila- 
delphia when nine years of age; received an edu- 
cation in the public schools of that city, and upon 
receiving his diploma he removed to the little 
tO'Wn of Goshen, Indiana, where 
he immediately entered the 
clothing business of Lafferty & 
Elson. 

Mr. Elson was closely identi- 
fied with the growth and develop- 
ment of this beautiful and thrifty 
little city, and was associated 
with all its charitable, public and 
civic associations. He was the 
irtimate friend and associate of Judges Woods 
and Baker, of the United States Federal Court, 
and was a director of the City National Bank of 
tliat city. In 1884 he removed with his family 
to Chicago, Illinois, since which time he has been 
a member of the firm of Hirsh, Elson & Com- 




pany, wholesale clothiers, whose rapid growth 
v.-as essentially due to the perseverance, energy 
and ability of Mr. Elson. Few men were more 
beloved in the business community; none were 
better qualified in all the requisite qualities of 
ideal citizensliip than Mr. Elson. His friends 
are legion, and many are indebted to him for 
their rise in the community. 

iMr. Elson was an aggressive character, pos- 
sessing all those indomitable traits which tend to 
progress and acti\'e citizenship in the community. 
He was a member of the Chicago Sinai Congre- 
gation, a member of the Standard Club, of which 
institution he was formerly a director, and was 
closely identified with all charitable institutions 
in the city, to which he gave active and liberal 
support. Mv. Elson died at his residence. No. 
41 13 Grand boulevard, Chicago, August 22, 1901, 
leaving a wife and two daughters, ^Minnie and 
Mata Elson, the former, the wife of Leo A. 
Loch. 



HENRY CASSORTE SMITH 

ADRIAN. MICH. 

Henry C. Smith, member of congress from torical aljility has occasioned his selection as the 

the second district of Michigan, is a lawyer of orator of many public celebrations, and it was 

prominence in that state, and a member of the but natural that a man of his many fine qualities 

well-known legal firm of Watts, Smith & Bald- should be selected to represent his state in coii- 

win, of Adrian. His career in the legal pro- gress. Henry C. Smith was born at Canan- 

fession has been rapid and brilliant. His ora- daigua. New York, June 2, 1859, and is a son of 



I40 



PROAIIXEXT .AlEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



Wanton Green, and Mariali (Mitchell) Smith. 
Mr. Smith was educated at the public schools 
and at Adrian College, from which he gradu- 
ated in 1878. His piilitical career has been 
brilliant and since graduation he has interested 
himself in all the campaigns. An ardent Repub- 
lican, he has always shown deep interest in his 
party. He taught school for a time, read law 
and was admitted ti_> the bar September 25, 1880, 



was appointed city attorney October 2, 1880, 
assistant prosecuting attorney for Lenawee coun- 
ty January i, 1881, with offices at Adrian, Mich- 
igan ; was elected to the fifty-sixth and re-elected 
to the fifty-seventh congress. 

]\Ir. Smith was united in marriage Decem- 
ber 20, 1887, to ]\Iiss Emma ^I. Watts, daugh- 
ter of Colonel Richard A. Watts, his law 
partner. 



JOHN E. HARPER, A. M., M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Ranking high in the profession, with a repu- 
tation that is national in character. Dr. John E. 
Harper may have equals but certainly no superi- 
ors in his profession as a physician and eye and 
ear specialist. With his professional knowledge 
the intricate problems oi medicine and disease are 
m.astcred with a readiness that shows exceptional 
powers. 

Dr. Harper is descended from an old English 
famil}-, whose members settled at an early day in 
Virginia and the Car<jlinas. They were unas- 
suming, but hospitable and cultured, supporters 
of all educational enterprises and some of them 
were quite scientifically inclined. 

His grandfather was known as "Little Berrj- 
Harper" and fought in the Revolutionary war, 
and a Virginian planter who conducted his 
plantation not only successfully but in a scien- 
tific manner, far in advance of the times. His 
father, Robert W. Harper, settled in southwest- 
ern Kentucky, and at the opening of the Civil war 
was an extensive slave owner. 

Here, in Trigg county, John E. Harper was 
born on the 21st of January, 1851, and here he 
spent the few years preceding the breaking out 
of the war. It was not far fron: the scene of such 
important engagements as Fort Donelson, Bel- 
mont and Shiloh. His father served in the For- 



rest Brigade and many of his relatives served in 
the Confederate ami}". 

The family afterv.ard removed to Indiana 
and the boy received his early education at the 
institution at Evans\ille, and graduated from the 
high school in that city. He commenced his 
medical studies under Dr. G. B. Walker, dean of 
the Evansville Medical College. After gradu- 
ating he associated himself with Dr. William R. 
Davidson, one of his preceptors, and thus prac- 
ticed three years, and then entered the Uni\-ersity 
of New York, from which he graduated in 1878, 
receiving the first prize for the best examination 
on the subject of diseases of the eye and ear. He 
was the first western man graduating from that 
institution to be accorded this honor. 

During the same year (1878) he made a trip 
to Europe, and pursued his studies in his specialty 
in the famous institutions of London, Paris and 
Vienna. Previously, however, he had been ap- 
pointed professor of diseases oi the eye and ear 
in the Medical College of Evansville. and re- 
tained the chair while abroad, and assuming its 
active duties upon his return to that city in 1880. 
He at this time founded the Indiana Medical Re- 
porter, being associated with Dr. A. M. Owen. 
Upon coming to Chicago in 1882 the name of 
the periodical was changed to Western Medical 



PROMIXE\T MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



143 



Reporter, and of whicli tlie Doctor was editor and 
publisher until it suspended in 1897. 

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
Chicago, now Medical Department University of 
Illinois, immediately called Doctor Harper to the 
chair of diseases of the eye and ear, and he re- 
tained this professorship until his resignation in 
1 89 1, a period of five years. In 1896 he was re- 
appointed to the same chair, which position he 
still holds. He was secretary of this college and 
for nine years surgeon-in-chief to the eye and 
ear department nf the W'estside Dispensary. 



He has since been associated with tlie Illinois 
Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary and with the 
St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum ; Oakwood Sani- 
tarium, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; Battle Creek 
Sanitarium; Alma Sanitarium, Alma, Michigan, 
and others. 

Dr. Harper was married May 28, 1878, to 
}iliss Mary E. Walker, of Evansville, Indiana, 
daughter of ex-Mayor W. H. Walker. He has 
a son, Robert B. Harper, born February 28, 
1882. His first born son died at the age of 
cne vear. 



GEORGE RUSSELL PERRY 

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 




It is a pleasant task to write the life history 
and labors of a man who has attained distinction 
in his state, for biography finds its most perfect 
justification in tracing and recording such a life. 
George Russell Peny pos- 
sesses all the qualifications of the 
^^ .« able leader. His independent 
'f -•"" and courageous spirit character- 
izes all his actions, and while he 
has continued for many years a 
steadfast Democrat, not from 
selfish motives, but from a deep 
conviction that the principles of 
tliat party are essential to the highest welfare of 
the country, and although his home city is Re- 
publican, he has been twice elected treasurer of 
Grand Rapids, and has served two terms as 
mayor of the city. He is not a partisan, however, 
and is not blinded by the faults, foibles and mis- 
takes of many politicians, and is fully able to ap- 
preciate and recognize patriotic devotion in those 
whO' differ from him. Added to these traits in 
Mr. Perry's character, another reason he has be- 
come a recognized leader in the ranks of his party 



is his brilliant oratory. He has a ready com- 
mand of language, is logical and entertaining, 
easy in his delivery, and he never fails to make 
an impression on his hearers. It is a well-attested 
maxim that the greatness of a state lies not in 
the macliinery oi government but in the sterling- 
qualities of its individual citizens. In his official 
capacity Mr. Perry has manifested a public- 
spirited policy that has made him popular with 
all classes irrespective of party. 

George Russell Perry was born at Bridgeport, 
Connecticut, January 30, 1849, ^"d is the son of 
George H. and Hannah Dobbs Perry. Although 
of eastern birth, he owes his education tO' the 
west, as his parents moved tO' Detroit, Michigan, 
in 1850 and his schooling was gained in the pub- 
lic schools of that city. When nineteen years of 
age he went to Grand Rapids and became a clerk 
in the drug store of Dr. Charles Shepard, with 
whom he was associated until 1873, when he re- 
moved to Chicago and entered the drug business 
for himself. In 1875 he sold his business and 
returned to Grand Rapids and engaged as book- 
keeper for L. H. Randall & Company, wholesale 



144 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



grocers, with whom he remained eight years. In 
1884 he became a member of the firm of Freeman, 
Hawkins & Company, wholesale grocers, suc- 
cessors to L. H. Randall & Company. He pur- 
chased the interest of Mr. Freeman the following 
year and the firm became known as Hawkins & 
Perry. This firm was dissolved in 1891. Since 
then Mr. Perry has continued in business as a 
mercliandise broker. 

Mr. Perry was treasurer of Grand Rapids 
from 1886 to 1890, and was elected mayor of the 
city in 1896, and was re-elected in 1900. 

He is a valued meinber of many social or- 
ganizations, a member of the Military Club, the 



Country Club. Lakeside Club and many others. 
He is a Knight Templar, having passed all Ma- 
sonic degrees but one, a member of the Order of 
Elks, Knights of Pythias, ^Modern Woodmen, 
Woodmen of the World, Knights of ^Maccabees 
and Ancient Order of Foresters. 

Warm hearted and generous, he is popular 
in society, and those who' are admitted to his 
friendship find him quick to appreciate worth 
in others and always worthy of the deepest re- 
gard. Mr. Perry was married January 6, 1874, 
to Jennie, daughter of Alexander Blake, of 
Grand Rapids, Michigan, and they have one 
child. Teannette Perrv. 



LAWRENCE ANDREW YOUNG 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



Lawrence A. Young, president of the Wash- 
ington Park Club of Chicago, was born at Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, ]May 19, 1870, near what is now 
known as Central Park in that city, and is a son 
of Colonel Bennett H. Young, a distinguished 
Confederate officer and noted 
lawyer of Louisville, and a grand- 
^^ P son of the late Dr. Stuart Robin- 

* ' son, the best known of all the 

' southern Presbyterian divines. 

Lawrence A. Young attended 
the university school of J. \\ . 
Ciienault in Louisville, and en- 
tered Princeton University, New 
Jersey, in the fall of 1888. and graduated in the 
academic department in the class of 1892. 
While at Princeton he was an athlete, pitched on 
the University Base Ball Club four years and was 
captain of the team in his senior year. After 
graduating from Princeton Mr. Young immedi- 
ately entered the law department oi the Uni- 
versity of Louisville. After graduating he 




formed a partnership with his father and prac- 
ticed law in Louisville successfully until 1896, 
when he moved to Chicago and became connected 
v.itli the Chicago City Railway Company, law 
department. In 1897 he was appointed assistant 
corporation counsel of the city of Chicago. 

In 1900 Mr. Young reorganized the board of 
directors of the \\'ashinton Park Club, the best- 
known racing track in America, and became its 
president, and has just been re-elected for a third 
term. He also, witli Judge George G. Perkins, 
reorganized the old American Turf Congress in 
the west and formed the W'estern Jockey Club, 
which controls, supreme, all racing in the district 
between the eighty-first meridian, the Rocky 
Mountains, the Gulf of Mexico and the Great 
Lakes. He is a steward in. and has just been 
elected president of the board of stewards of his 
organization, for a second term. 

Mr. Young is a director in the Washington 
Park Club, and of the Chicago City Railway 
Company: a member of the Chicago Club. LTni- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



'45 



versity Clul). Calumet Cluh, and an anient Prince- 
ten supporter, and a member of the Princeton 
Club of Chicago and New York. 

Mr. Young was Democratic nominee for 
judge of the superior court of Cook county, in 
the fall of 1900, but was defeated in the McKin- 
ley landslide in Illinois. He is actively engaged 



in the practice of law, and has charge of large 
interests, and is very i)rominent in both social 
an<l cluh life of Chicagij. He is a Presbyterian 
in religion. Mr. Young was married in 1894 to 
?^Iiss Mabel Wheeler, daughter of the late George 
Henry \\'heeler, of Chicago, and resides at 1812 
Prairie Avenue. They have two children. 



DANIEL V. SAMUELS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




Daniel V. Samuels is essentially a natural 
lawyer, with a power of concentration and a de- 
termination that knows no diversion or hesita- 
tion before accomplishment. These are the 
qualities that win, and Mr. Samuels, after eleven 
years' practice at the Illinois bar. 
already ranks among the leading 
young lawyers of the city. The 
independent and courageous spirit 
which characterizes all his ac- 
tions probably comes from his 
sturdy Welsh ancestry. 

He was born at Cwmbran, 
South Wales, February i, 1856, 
and is the son of James anH Sarah Richards 
Samuels, natives of that country, and who were 
among- the most influential members of that com- 
munity in all matters pertaining to the social and 
religious affairs of the parish. Mr. Samuels lost 
his parents by death when he was three years 
of age. 

He received his education in the British day 
schools and Welsh Sabbath-schools of his native 
place, and came to the United States when he was 
fifteen years of age, arriving May 17, 1871, and 
spent his first summer in Canada, working for 
the Great Western Railroad. He spent the fall 
of 187 1 in Chicago, but left the city one week 
before the great fire, going to Ludington, Michi- 
gan, where he worked in the lumber camps and 



sawmills until 1876. In the following year he 
taught school and music in Missouri, returning 
to Michigan for the study of law in September, 
1877, and was admitted to the bar January i, 
1879. He was afterward elected prosecuting at- 
torney for his county, and later served as justice 
of the peace. 

Mr. Samuels decided to settle in Chicago in 
1890, and has practiced at the Illinois bar ever 
since March of that year. He has been engaged 
in much important litigation during the past 
twenty years, both in Michigan and Illinois, and 
has won many forensic battles. Mr. Samuels 
gives the Democratic part an active, earnest and 
intelligent support. He is a man of independent 
and positive opinions, and is what one may term 
an all-around anti-expansion Democrat. The 
only political distinction he cares to lay claim to 
is his constant and unremitting opposition to the 
jirotective tariff. He was a candidate on that 
ticket for attorney-general in 1896. but met 
defeat with the majority on his ticket dur- 
ing that memorable campaign. He is con- 
i^.ected with a number of clubs, a member of 
the Masonic fraternity and of the Knights of 
Pythias. He is a thorough man of the world 
and widely traveled, having taken extensive jour- 
neys through England. Ireland, W'ales and the 
continent of Europe. He is a Protestant in l:>e- 
lief. but is tolerant of the beliefs of others and 



146 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



has never made himself obnoxious either in re- 
ligion or politics. 

Mr. Samuels is a great lover of good music, 
is a fine musician and at one time taught music, 
and was a leader of a choir. He is a man of 
scholarly tastes and studious habits, has a fine 



library and spends many of the best hours of his 
life among his favorite authors. 

I\lr. Samuels' marriage occurred January 5, 
T879, to JNIiss Lillian A. Crawford, of Holly, 
.Michigan, a descendant ui very old Revolution- 
arv stock. 



THOMAS BARLOW WALKER 



.MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 



Thomas Barlow Walker, capitalist and phil- 
anthropist, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a man 
of force, a harmonious combination of business 
activity, intellectual ability and esthetic appre- 
ciation. He represents the fast declining type 
of men who were pioneers, and the new order 
which promotes the beautiful, fosters the line 
arts, and encourages the expansion of culture 
as the best good for all. His philanthropy has 
caused him to throw open his magnificent private 
art gallery to the pul)lic, and has made him feel 
that benches on his lawn would be agreeable to 
the many whose destiny is to walk rather than 
be conveyed through life. He is progressive and 
always ready to meet changed conditions, com- 
prehending that the situation to-day will not be 
the same to-morrow. From his earliest boyhood 
he has always been helping others, and it seems 
marvelous how he managed in the years when he 
had only his own labor to depend upon, to do 
so much for his mrjther and sisters, and in later 
life for all with whom he had dealings. While 
never an indiscriminate or emotional giver, his 
life has been a record of continual and thought- 
ful hel])fulness. The sum of his benefactions to 
public and private causes will never be known. 
least of all to himself, but it has been limited only 
by his means and sometimes has overstepped 
even that mark. To the church, tO' the cause of 
education, to pulilic libraries, to the education 
of indi\"iduals. his wealth, and. the hardest 



of all for a busy man to give, his own time and 
strength, have l)een freely and gener<jusly be- 
stowed. 

In his personal habits of dress and living, 
]\Ir. Walker is plain in the extreme, not as an 
affectation, but because this style of living and 
dressing appeals the most strongly to his better 
judgment. But almost in contradiction to this, 
he has a great love for the beautiful in nature, 
in art, in architecture, and is satisfied with noth- 
ing but the best. \\'hen he erects a building it 
is right when it is finished, architecturally, me- 
chanically, and fitted to its use, whether it is for 
a church, an art gallery or a business house, and 
when he builds a structure it always remains. 

One of Mr. Walker's strong characteristics 
has always been his enjoyment of endless work, 
coupled with the greatest ability to accomplish 
much in a short space of time. He takes his 
recreations by changing from one kind of work 
to another, and it is impossible fi ir him to be 
mildly interested in anything: he enters into a 
subject thoroughly or not at all. His long busi- 
ness hours are supplemented by as long ones in 
his library in study or writing, or in his gallery 
of ])ictures. and no moment of his life runs to 
waste. He is social in his nature, but has no 
taste for general society or club life. Much of 
his time in earlier years was spent among his 
children, whose education he personally super- 
intended. He is a thoroughly well informed 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



149 



man and an entertaining speaker. He has writ- 
ten and spoken extensively on social and po- 
litical topics, is a recognized authority on art 
matters, a stanch Christian gentleman, always 
ready to testify to his faith, and ever loyal to his 
coinitr}-, his family, his friends, his political 
party and his church. 

Thomas Barlow Walker was born February 
I, 1840, in Xenia, Greene count}-, Ohio, and is the 
son of Piatt Bayliss and Anstis Barlow Walker. 
Both parents were natives of the state of New 
York, l)ut moved to Ohio in their early married 
life. His father was a shoemaker by trade, but 
by nature and practice a successful merchant, 
business man and speculator, and had he lived 
to even middle life would no doubt have amassed 
a fortune. As it was, he was in very comfort- 
able circumstances for the times in which he 
li\-ed, when in 1849 '^^ '"'^'1'^ the prevailing gold 
fever and embarked nearly all his fortune in a 
train of merchandise and started on the overland 
route to California. He died before the train 
had left Missouri. His partner took possession 
of the outfit, took it successfully to its destina- 
tion, sold it at a good profit and was never heard 
of afterwards. Thus at nine vears of age Mr. 
\\'alker, the subject of this sketch, was left fa- 
therless, and the widow and four children but 
scantily provided for. 

From the time of his father's death until his 
fifteenth year, Mr. Walker's life was that of the 
average boy in a country village, save that the 
loss of his father and his mother's straightened 
circumstances made a deep impression upon 
him, and moved him to \arious efiforts toward 
the betterment of the family purse, such as pick- 
ing and selling berries, selling papers, setting up 
ten pins, trying to learn \-arious trades, etc., but 
it is amusing to those who have known his full 
life history, to see how even in those early days 
his business sagacity showed itself. If he picked 
berries he hired half a dozen boys tO' pick with 
Tiim, paying so much per quart for the picking. 



but always reserved to himself the business end 
of the transaction, the marketing of the stock, 
and it was not often that he came out without a 
margin. 

At fifteen, his mother (who in the meantime 
had remarried) moved to Berea, Ohio, a little 
village near Cleveland, for the better opportunity 
to educate her children, as well as for better 
business chances. Here Thomas began clerking 
in a dry goods store, and awoke to a realization 
of the necessity of an educaton. While thus em- 
ployed he mastered outside of business hours, 
arithmetic and elementary algebra, after which 
he entered Baldwin Uni\-ersity, but he had only 
money enough to remain in college but one term 
of the year. At this time he purchased a piece of 
wood land on speculation and hired some of the 
students of the University, many of whom were 
like himself, struggling against poverty, to chop 
cordwood and rails. This venture was a finan- 
cial success, and gave him an insight into timber 
which was useful to hnn in after years. He 
later took up the life of a traveling salesman, 
which he followed for three years or more, act- 
ing as agent for the sale of Berea grindstones 
for the Hon. Fletcher Hulet. During these 
years he always carried with him two traveling 
cases, — a small one for his wardrobe, and a large 
one for his books, maps, tools and papers. In 
this way he kept up with his college class, mas- 
tered geometry, analytics, mechanics, and New- 
ton's Principia, together with a thorough knowl- 
edge of chemistry. To accomplish all this, he 
had of course to utilize every waiting hour in 
a country depot and every moment of the time 
which was not demanded by his business. He 
did not learn easily, had no brilliant memory or 
quick intuitive insight into the mysteries of 
things, but wheu he took up a subject he never 
rested until he knew not only all that the book 
before him contained, but also ail that every other 
book within his reach contained, and all that he 
himself could figure out. Once conquered, it 



rsd 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



was his property for all time. Thus it hap- 
pened while in school he was always hard at 
work througflil term time, never made any re- 
markable showing in the recitation room, but 
when the other students began to groan over ap- 
proaching examinations he had time to go fish- 
ing, and on examination days he was the whole 
class. 

When nineteen years of age Mr. Walker and 
a friend still younger took a contract in Paris, 
Illinois, of the Terre Haute and Illinois Rail- 
road, to furnish a large amount of cross-ties and 
cordwood. This contract involved the purchase 
of timber, building houses for the men employed, 
and the general running of a lumber camp for 
eighteen months; but on the very week which 
saw the close of the work, the road went into 
the hands of a receiver and they lost the entire 
profits of the undertaking. 

^Ir. Walker then took up teaching in a win- 
ter country school, meeting with success, but 
after two terms started during the vacation on 
the road again. Hearing on this trip of the beau- 
ties and advantages for business in the then al- 
most unknown city of ]^Iinneapolis, he took one 
of the old "Diamond Joe" line of river steamers 
at McGregor, Iowa, went to St. Paul and then 
by rail to St. Anthony Falls, over the only nine 
miles of railroad in the state, to ^Minneapolis. 
Here within the first half day. he had engaged to 
go into the upper and almost unknown parts of 
the state as a member of the surveying party of 
Mr. George B. Wright, and had written his 
promised wife in Ohio, "I have found the city 
where we will make our home." It was a case 
of love at first sight, and his affection for and 
loyalty to the city of Minneapolis has known no 
change or variation through all the years since 
that first day. 

The first trip resulted disastrously, as the 
party were driven from the woods by the out- 
break of the war with the Indians in 1862, and 
all were in great peril before reaching Fort Rip- 



ley, where their numbers were gladly added to 
the small garrison then holding that point. Re- 
turning to Minneapolis at the earliest oppor- 
tunity, ^Ir. Walker rented desk room in the of- 
fice of Mr. L. M. Stewart, one of the prominent 
lawyers of the city, and sat down to a winter's 
work on his books, which in the spring drew 
from the lawyer, who was not given to wasting 
words of commendation on anyone, the com- 
ment, "You have' done the hardest and best win- 
ter's work I have ever seen accomplished." 

Mr. Walker's first survey work in the pin- 
eries impressed him with the almost inestimable 
value of the standing timber of the state. It 
seems but a natural thing now that almost any 
one should have so judged, but in that early day, 
the few Maine lumbermen who were operating 
in the state were not so impressed, and timber 
beyond the Rum -river, eighteen miles from the 
city, found no purchasers, even at the govern- 
ment price of one dollar and a quarter per acre, 
and they laughed at the Ohio boy who had come 
out fresh from school to instruct them in the 
values of timber. But }>Ir. Walker steadily held 
to his opinion and at last found capitalists who 
would put their money against his work in ex- 
aminations and locations, and thereby obtained 
his first start in the lumber business, which has 
been his principal occupation ever since. 

]\Ir. \\'alker, since that time, has built, owned 
and operated, either alone or associated with 
others, a large number of mills and their con- 
nected lumber interests, yards, etc., the principal 
ones being the Butler ]\Iills and Walker Mills, 
the Butler & Walker, the Camp & Walker, the 
Red River Lumber Company Alills, at Crooks- 
ton, Minnesota, and Grand Forks, Dakota, and 
later still in operation, the very extensive plant 
at Akeley, Minnesota. At the same time he has 
carried on extensive deals in the purchase and 
sale of pine land, as well as cutting and mar- 
keting the great quantities of logs from his own 
lands. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



151 



Mr. Walker has done iiuich in the way of en- 
couraging manufacturing enterprises to locate in 
Minneapolis, and many large and prosperous 
concerns tiwe their existence to his efforts in 
their behalf. The St. Louis Park, a manufactur- 
ing suburb of the city, of which he is the princi- 



time on the coast and in the forests studying all 
the minuti?e of a new business in a new country. 
As a result, he has been convinced that the mar- 
kets of the world are ready for the manufac- 
tured products of these great forests, and has 
bought heavily and fearlessly. His holdings 



pal, if not the entire owner, contains many val- cover the largest tract of sugar and yellow pine 
uable plants, among which are counted one large on the coast, and it is generally regarded as the 



agricultural implement factory, and a beet sugar 
plant, which has the last season manufactured 
over si.x millions of pounds of sugar. Connect- 
ing this suburb with the city, Mr. \\'alker has 
built, owns and (jperates the Minneapolis, St. 
Louis Park and Hopkins Electric Railway line.- 
which is both a great convenience and a profit- 
able investment. 

Mr. Walker's holdings of real estate in the 
city are extensive, among whicli may be men- 
tioned the most extensive commission plant in 
the United States, and in which are handled more 
fruits, both fresh and dried, vegetables and 
meats, than in the markets of any other place, 
except perhaps two or three of the very largest 
cities. The concentrating of the wholesale c(jm- 
mission business of the city in unifijrm buildings 
under one ownership and system of rents, with 
abundant trackage and facilities for handling 
goocls, all covering between two- and three large 
citv squares, has made the commission Imsiness 
a pleasure to all concerned, and has permanently 
drawn about it the main wholesale district of the 
city. 

Within the last five years Mr. \\'alker has 
been turning his attention to the immense and 
a'most unknown pineries of California, esjiecial- 
ly the sugar and yellow pines. Sugar pine is the 
largest, longest and finest pine timber in the 
Avorld, and the California yellow (really white) 
pine is nearlv as large and long and almost as 
valuable as the sugar. The demand for Ixitli 
kinds is sharp and unlimited. Mr. Walker has 
liad explorers and land examiners constantly in 
tlie field and has spent a large part of his own 



fir,est and most \-aluabIe on the timber belt. The 
greater portion of this tract stands on a sloping 
table, readily accessible for manufacturing and 
handling purposes. Mr. Walker is now^ most 
probably the largest indi\-idual holder of pine 
lands in the country. It is his intention to im- 
mediately develop this property by the construc- 
tion of a standard gauge railroad, about one hun- 
dred and twenty miles in length, together with 
the necessary logging railroads, lumber mills, 
sash, do(-jr and box factories, planing mills, dry 
houses, etc. 

It was largely through Mr. Walker's efforts 
that the present Public Library of the cit\- oi 
^Minneapolis was put in operation, by which, 
through an appropriation from the citv, supple- 
mented Ijy large gifts from indix'iduals (of 
whom Mr. \\'alker was the leader), a magnifi- 
cent building was erected, in which are housed 
not only the public library proper, but all the 
accumulated treasures of the Athen?eum, and the 
Academy of Science. Here also the citv has the 
nucleus of an art collection, owning a number 
of pictures, and enjoying from year to year the 
continuous loan of over fifty fine canvases be- 
longing to Mr. Walker. The Academv of Sci- 
erice also owes no inconsiderable ann mnt of its 
attraction to ;Mr. Walker's generosity. During 
his travels he collects fine shells, corals, stuff'ed 
animals, or dtlier valuable additions for the al- 
ready large and interesting collection. Several 
exceedingly fine cases of minerals are his latest 
additions to former gifts. 

L'pon the organization of the pulilic library 
!Mr. Walker was unanimously elected president 



152 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



of the board of directors, which ot^ice he has 
continuously held by re-election to the present 
time, a period of sixteen years. 

Another outcropping of his eye for perfec- 
tion, is his love for fine gems. He is a recog- 
nized authority in the East on the value of 
precious stones. He buys them and carries them 
about with him for pure love of their lire and 
fineness, and it is a rare moment when he can 
not produce from some pocket or corner, a won- 
derful colored diamond or perfect ruby. It is 
perfectly within bounds to say that he loves 
them for their own sake. 

Mr. Walker has been making a valuable col- 
lection of oil paintings since 1885. At first he 
bought slowly, but as the years have passed and 
his love of art increased, he has come to have 
confidence in his own judgment and has made 
an extremely fine cullection uf the Ijest works of 
the best artists. He never buys a man's work 
until he thoroughly knows the man and his 
works. In this way he has collected at his home 
one of the finest art reference libraries in 
the country, to which he is constantly adding. 
He has at his home probably one hundred and 
fifty or two hundred canvases, with fifty more 
hung in the gallery of the Public Library, which 
form a collection which for character stands sec- 
ond to no private collection in this country. 
Among the artists are sucii names as Rousseau, 
Corot, Diaz, Jacque, Jazet, Jules Breton, Madam 
Demont-Breton (his daughter). Sir Thomas 
Lawrence, Rembrandt Peele, David, LeFevre, 
Bougereau, Turner, Hogarth, Hans Holbein, 
Rembrandt, and a multitude of others. Besides 
the pictures he has a very choice collection of 
ancient bronzes of the best period of Japanese 
and Chinese art work, ivories, rare potteries, 
jades, cameos, fine glass, etc. This collection is 
held open for the free use of the public during 
all daylight hours of all week days, and has doue 
much toward educating and developing the art 
taste of the city. 



Mr. \\'alker was married at Berea, Ohio, 
December, 19, 1863, to Miss Harriet G. Hulet, 
the daughter of Hon. Fletcher Hulet, of that 
place, by their college president and the young 
lady's brother-in-law. Rev. John Wheeler. After 
spending the winter at the home of their par- 
ents in Berea, they journeyed tO' their home in 
the west. For fi\-e years they resided in Minne- 
apolis East, or St. Anthony Falls as it was then 
called, removing thence to Minneapolis proper, 
where they remained five years on First avenue 
and South Third street, after which the present 
home on Hennepin avenue was built, where the 
family have resided for twenty-seven years. The 
house as originally built has been added to on 
both sides and rear to accommodate the library, 
gallery, etc., etc. 

Mr. and Mrs. Walker have had eight chil- 
dren, six boys and twu girls. To the training 
of their family both Mr. and }ilrs. Walker gave 
up much of their time for many years, especial 
eft'orts being made to develop the practical and 
mechanical sides of their natures. The good ef- 
fects of this manual training have been apparent 
since the boys entered business and had to han- 
dle machinery of all kinds. Of these eight chil- 
dren, seven are still living, the second son having 
died at the age of eighteen. Of the seven, six 
are marrietl and live near home, one is in col- 
lege, and one of the daughters is widowed. Four 
of the sons are in partnership with their father 
in the lumber business. All of the sons are 
capable, energetic, sensible business men, who 
will be well able to manage the large business in- 
terests which will some day fall upon them. Of 
the daughters, one is married to a wholesale mer- 
chant, and is the happy mother of three children. 
The other was the happy and useful wife of a 
prominent Methodist minister until he was called 
away. Among the treasures of this family are 
six grandsons, all under five years of age. 

To only those who have the privilege of 
knowing Mrs. Walker in her private and social 



PROAIIXEXT AlEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



153 



relations, can tliere come a full knowledge of 
her innate charm. She is a lad}- of rare culture 
and has that graceful tact which wins the es- 
teem (jf all who know her. She characteristically 
gives Mr. Walker the credit fur many of her 
fine qualities,' claiming that by long association 
with him she has imbibed some of his industry, 
enthusiasm and generosity. She has kept pace 



with her husband and is well fitted to stand by 
his side. For twenty-five years past she has led a 
very busy life outside the home in hospital, re- 
format(ir_\-, temperance and literary work, as well 
as in private charities. She has held for years 
the presidency of two important institutions, 
both of which ha\e been largely built up and 
sustained through her instrumentalit\-. 



HUBERT DANIEL WYLLIE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



In reviewing the life of Hubert D. \\')llie we 
tiiul that his is a well-rounded, symmetrical char- 
acter. He used the advantages given him in his 
youth in the best way, and utilized the ditificulties 
he encountered. He to-da\- is regarded one of the 
most progressive sanitary engi- 






neers in the west, 

Hubert D. W'yllie was born 



at Tideford, in Cornwall, Eng- 



^^ land, January 20, 1854, and is a 

^^^ y son of Thomas and Sarah (New- 

X* '**' ^ combe) Wyllie. His education 

tf^^^^^^^^PP^ was acquired at Hele's School, 
*^y'" Exeter. England. From 1867 to 

1869 he was clerk in the freight 
department of the Bristol & Exeter Railway at 
Exeter, and from 1869 to 1871 studied with John 
M. IMartin, sanitary engineer, at Exeter, Eng- 
land. Frcim 1871 to 1875 'is served in the En- 
glish Cavalry — Fourteenth Hussars. During 
this four years' service he had charge of the regi- 
mental commissary department of the Fourteenth 
Hussars fnr two years, was cavalry brigade clerk 
at Aklershot one year, and during the latter 
period was instructor in reconnaissance and road 
surveying, and also illustrated the English Cav- 
alry Drill Regulations, published in 1876, being 
attached to a cummission consisting of General 
10 



Sir Hope Grant, General Sir Thomas Steele, 
Col. Valentine Baker, the Duke of Connaught 
and Major Hozier. From May, 1875, to No- 
vember, 1878, he was practicing with John M. 
Martin, sanitary engineer. Late in the year of 
1878 he came to the United States, to Chicago, 
and from 1879 to 1899 was with the Chicago, 
Burlington & Ouincy Railroad Company. Dur- 
ing this time he had charge of the general man- 
ager's office under Henry B. Stone, E. P. Ripley, 
George B. Harris, W. F. Merrill and W. C. 
Brown. For some years past he has kept in close 
touch with the investigations and experiments of 
Donald Cameron, the inventor of the septic tank 
system of sewage treatment, and from 1899 to 
1 90 1 he served as general agent in the United 
States and Canada for the Septic Tank Syndi- 
cate, of E.xeter, England, and installed systems at 
Vancouver, B. C, and Sackville, X. B. He also 
served as administrator for the estate of Robert 
J. AlcClure. On August i, 1901, he was elected 
secretary and general manager of the Cameron 
Septic Tank Company, whicli has accpiired the 
Camenm patents in the United States, covering 
the septic tank process, a system destined to revo- 
lutionize the present methods of sewage purifi- 
cation throughout the country. 

In religious matters !Mr. W'yllie is an Episco- 



154 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



palian, and ixilitically is indq>endent, reserving George Kendall, of Little Haccombe, Exeter, 

the right to vote for "men and measures." England, 'i'hey are the parents of seven chil- 

Mr. Wyllie was united in marriage November dren, three daugliters and four sons, all of whom 

i8, 1876, to Miss Margerv Kendall, daughter of are li\ing. 



CHARLES FREDERICK GUNTHER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Among tlie representative men of Chicago, 
whose positions are due solely to their own ef- 
forts and who stand to-day as true l>enefactors 
to the city, and the best example to young' men 
of what enterprise, i)luck and perseverance will 
do for the enthusiastic and detemiined boy who 
desires to make a lasting record for himself, none 
deserves more hon(»ral)le mention than Mr. 
Charles Frederick ( iunther. His recent great 
and valuable gift to the city has again called uj) 
the imjxirtant events in his life, which by being 
cited to our readers (especially the yoimg men) 
may l>e of inestimalile value as a foundation upon 
which they may build their life's record. 

Mr. Gunther, as is generally well known, is 
a leading manufacturer and dealer of confec- 
tions, and his store on State street lias for years 
1>een the one point where all "lovers of the best" 
have purchased their sweetmeats. It is through 
him that the worUl enjoys the luxurious caramels, 
which he first introduced and which have grown 
so famous as to find a ready market, not only 
throughout the United States, but also into Eu- 
rope and other countries. Mr. Gunther is a gen- 
tleman of vast experience; he has had a liberal 
education, lias traveled much, visiting every 
country and clime of any interest or importance 
from the "land of the mid-night sun" to the 
Holy Land and Babylon, collecting as he went 
such treasures and curios as pleased him anil 
which were of importance, that at last he was 
quoted as having the greatest collection of these 



relics in America. It was through him that Chi- 
cago so long enjoyed the famous Libby Prison 
War Museum. His relics of war collected there 
were larger and more rare and precious than 
anv other collection in the world. It is this vast 
and important collection that he has now donated 
to the city, and this municipality will, in time, 
construct a most fitting building in Garfield Park, 
where the ])ublic can appreciate and be benefited 
through the resources of this one man. But Mr. 
Gunther has not always been in a position to thus 
gratify his love of travel and the collection of 
rare curios, and a brief sketch of his life will be 
interesting as well as instructive. 

Charles F. Gunther was born in the cele- 
brated "Black Forest" district of Wurtemberg, 
South Germany, on March 6, 1837. When but a 
lad of five years his parents came to America, 
settling in Pennsylvania, where young Charles 
acquired his elementarj' education Ijy attending 
private schools. His great love of adventure 
and travel, as well as brusque independence and 
pluck, early charcterized itself in him, as he 
amply proved by making daily journeys over the 
mountains, carrying the United States mail to 
the nearest post, twenty miles and return. His 
remuneration was twenty-five cents per diem. In 
1850, however, the family and he moved to Peru, 
Illinois, where he completed his education and 
entered upon his business career in a general 
store at a salary of two dollars and fifty cents per 
month and his board. This was too slow a 



^/ ^f'^y^4. 





PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



157 



process, however, for young Guntlier and he soon 
gave it up tO' accept a position in a drug store. 
As a drug clerk he became \ery proficient and 
also learned the rudiments of medical science. 
Later on he entered the postoffice and soon be- 
came its manager. From this lie entered the em- 
ploy of A. Cruikshank, who represented the 
famous banking house of George Smith & Com- 
pany of Chicago' ( the death of George Smith in 
London recently caused much comment, owing 
to his vast fortune of fifty-six million dollars 
mostly made in this city). Mr. Gunther was 
connected with this bank for more than three 
years when he v.as made its cashier. Later, be- 
ing interested in tlie ice business, of whicli great 
quantities were packed and shipped intO' the south, 
he gave up the banking business and through his 
intimate connections at Peru he felt his oppor- 
tunity lay in going south in this business. He 
just got there, and nicely established, with BdIi- 
len, Wilson & Company at Meaiiphis, when the 
war of the Rebellion opened and biisiness was 
paralyzed. Nothing daunted, ho'wever, and feel- 
ing the conflict would not be long, he remained 
south through the entire siege; when he did final- 
ly got up north again (when, being captured in 
a battle in upper Arkansas, he was enabled to 
return home from there to Chicago) he became 
a traveling salesman for C. W. Sanford. This 
was his first entree into the confectionery line 
and here really began his profitable business ca- 
reer. It is a good and true saying, "first find 
what you are best adapted to, then work and 
persevere." Fie l^ecame so valuable as a sales- 
man od' confections that he not onlv traversed 
this country, but went to Europe as well. It was 
at this early date, and with his mind full of busi- 
ness also, that he liegan to gratify his desires for 
rare and precious relics; he familiarized himself 
with European languages and customs, which 
proved very beneficial and gratifying to him in 
his travels abroad, or when a foreigner happens 
into his place of business here. It was not until 



1868 that Mr. Gunther o^pencd a confectionery 
store of his own, being the first of its kind es- 
tablished in Chicago. It is needless to say he 
prospered, and it was at this time he invented 
the delicious "caramel." But the great fire swept 
away all his stock and his resources as well, and 
he was again obliged to begin at the foot of the 
ladder. This he did by immediately re-opening 
l.)usiness in a small way and to-day he stands 
as one of the leading and representative, self- 
made men of the age, a true example of inde- 
pendence, pluck and enterprise. 

Among his rare collection which he has given 
the city are mementoes O'f nearly every American 
battle-field. He possesses the rarest and finest 
collection of Bibles in the world and other rare 
books, manuscripts of some of our greatest poets, 
philosophers and musicians. In fact, tO' mention 
all, will take for more time and space than we 
have at our command. Suttee it to say that 
w hen the great collection is once in place in Gar- 
field Park, every one who can possibly get there 
should not fail to make themselves acquainted 
with this grand collection. It really is an inter- 
national exposition in itself and one that Chicago 
is intensely proud of and appreciates. In this 
way Mr. Gunther has truly built for himself not 
only a lasting name in the business world of the 
western metropolis, but has thus placed a living 
monument in the finer tastes, which so many of 
our business rnen entirely lose sight of in their 
rusli for wealth. 

Mr. (iunther was married to Miss Jennie 
Burnell of Lima, Indiana, in 1869. His two sons 
art connected in his business. Mr. and Mrs. 
Gunther are memljers of the Episcopal church. 
INlr. (iunther is a thirty-third-degree Mason, a 
Knight Tanplar, a memlier of L^nion League 
arid Iroquois Clubs and of the Commercial Asso- 
ciation. Is a trustee of the Historical Society 
and the Chicago Academy of Sciences. An art 
Institute governing member. mem1:)er of the 
Caxton Club, president of the Coliseum Com- 



158 



PROMIXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



pany, served four }-ears in tiie City Cnuncil as a 
reform alderman, etc. 

Air. Gunther is a Democrat in politics, and 
was recently nominated by his party, elected, and 
is now ser\'ing- his term as treasurer of the city 
of Chicago. He has literary and artistic tastes, 
liaving a very fine library and historic paintings. 
He has the only autographs of Shakespeare and 
a letter of MoHer, in the world in private hands. 



Has the only copy of the first book printed on 
the American Continents, viz.: 1535. He has 
also the best collection of Washington and Lin- 
coln relics in the United States, as well as his- 
toric manuscripts and original songs and poems 
of the famous authors of Europe and America. 
Also the founders, political and otherwise, of the 
United States from the settlement at Plymouth 
to the twentieth centurv. 



EDWIN M. ASHCRAFT 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Edwin i\I. Ashcraft. one of the representative 
legists of Chicago, has gained an eminent posi- 
tion at the bar; his reputation extends far be- 
yond the city, as he is well and faborably known 
all over the state of Illinois. 

Wr. Ashcraft was born on a farm near Clarks- 
burg. Harrison county. \"irginia. August 27, 
1848. and is the eldest son of a family of four 
ch.ildren. His father was James M. Ashcraft 
and his mother. Mrs. Clarissa (Swiger) Ash- 
craft. He is a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon 
race. The Ashcraft family was early founded 
m A^irginia and the homestead was near the seat 
of war of the Rebellion, in which several mem- 
bers of the famih- fnugln in defense of the Union 
cause. Mr. Ashcraft was educated in the com- 
mon schools of his native state, in the State 
Normal University at Normal. Illinois. Shortly 
after the hostilities between the north and south 
had been concluded in 1865 he came to southern 
Illinois. He was penniless at the time and 
stopped at Ramsey, a small town on the Illinois 
Central Railroad, where he began hauling tics 
and working with the road as a section hand. 
A year later he began teaching a country school. 
which he continued until 1869. and when not con- 
fined to the duties in his school-room he gave his 
time to tlie masterv of the principles of juris- 



prudence. In 1S71 he entered the law oftice of 
Henrv & Fouke, at \'andalia, where he read law, 
and remained until January, 1873, when he 
passed an examination before the supreme court 
at Springfield and was admitted to the l)ar of Illi- 
nois. 

He began practice at Vandalia and at once 
attracted so much attention in legal circles that 
he was elected prosecuting attorney of Fayette 
county the same year, filling the office until 1876. 
In this year he was nominated bv the Republican 
party for congress, and although unsuccessful in 
the election such was his popularity that he re- 
duced the former Democratic majority of his dis- 
trict from fi\'e thousand to fourteen hundred. 
His successful opponent was W. A. J. Sparks, 
who later served as land commissioner under 
President Cleveland's administration. 

Mr. Ashcraft has always been a close and 
careful student, and the business entrusted to his 
care has always claimed his undivided attention, 
his devotion to his clients' interests being proverb- 
ial. This, combined with his capability in the 
])resentation of a case to judge and jury soon 
won him success, and he rajiidly secured a large 
clientage at the bar of Vandalia. where he prac- 
ticed for fourteen years. He met in forensic con- 
test in southern Illinois such eminent jurists as 




&Af/Uf^,,.^y^- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



i6i 



John Scofield, of Marshall, later chief justice; 
Anthony Thornton, of Shelbyville, for several 
years a member of the supreme bench ; Jesse J. 
Phillips, of Hillsboro, who was also chief jus- 
tice; John M. Palmer, oi Springfield; S. M. 
Moulton, of Shelby; and B. W. Henry, of Fay- 
ette, now recognized as pioneers of Illinois law, 
and to- his contests with these men he attributes 
much of his success as a trial lawyer. In 1887 
Mr. Ashcraft became a member of the Chicago 
bar and formed a partnership with Thcjmas and 
Josiah Cratty, under the firm name of Cratty 
Brothers & Ashcraft, this connection continuing" 
until June i, 1891, when he became a member of 
the firm of Ashcraft & Gordon, composed of Mr. 
Ashcraft and Mr. Newton F. Gordon, which con- 
tiiuied until the death of Air. Gordon in October, 
1900, and was then succeeded by the firm of Ash- 
craft & Ashcraft, the present firm, composed of 
Mr. Ashcraft and his two sons, Raymond yi. and 
Edwin AI., Jr. Their ofiices, which are spacious 
and among the best equipped in Chicago, are in 
the First National Bank building. His practice is 
very extensive, most of it being devoted to cor- 
poration and commercial law. He contributes 



largely to the reputation for the thoroughness, 
ability and integrity which so signally characterize 
the discharge of its professional obligations and 
have made it one of the solid, reliable law firms 
of the city. Mr. Ashcraft is a persevering and 
industrious worker, never relaxing his energy un- 
til his case has been completed. He is distinct- 
ively a trial lawyer, and from the time of his ar- 
rival in Chicago' he has been eminently success- 
ful, having all the business he can attend to. 
while his reputation is such that he is in a position 
to select his cases. He is one of those shrewd 
and kindly lawyers who' know at first glance the 
practical and common-sense side of cases coming 
under his notice. 

In 1875 ]\Ir. Ashcraft was married to Miss 
Florence R., daughter of Risdon IVloore, of Belle- 
ville, Illinois, and they have four children : Ray- 
mond M., Edwin M., Florence V. and Alan E. 

Mr. Ashcraft is a member of the Union 
League and Hamilton Clubs, a prominent Mason 
and has always been a Republican in politics. 
He attributes much of his success as a lawyer to 
the elementary principles of the law learned while 
teaching school. 



HON. GEORGE W. PRINCE, M. C. 

G.\LESBURG, ILL. 



Hon. George W. Prince, member of congress, 

lawyer and diplomat, is a man of great breadth 

of thought. He has been in public life since a 

year after he was admitted to the bar. and has 

been four times elected to congress as a member 

of the house. Merit alone wins such distinction, 

and such a record needs not the complimentary 

comment of the historian, it speaks for itself. In 

the important official positions he has been called 

upon to fill lie has given the greatest satisfaction 

to the public and press of his state and party. No 

present office holder or coming representative of 
10* 



tlie people stands higher in the general esteem of 
his district. 

George \V. Prince was born in Tazewell 
county. Illinois, IMarch 4, 1854, and is the son of 
Almyron Prince, a native of Vermont, and Bar- 
bara V. (Fast) Prince, of Ohio. He attended 
the public schools and graduated from Knox Col- 
lege, Galesburg, in 1878, teaching school to ob- 
tain the means to complete his education. After 
graduation he taught school and read law at the 
same time, being admitted to the bar of Illinois 
in 1880. He was connected with some of the 



1 62 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



leading criminal and ci\-il cases tried in the county 
where he practiced. He was a private in the Sixth 
Illinois National Guards, from which he holds an 
honorable discharge. He was elected city at- 
tornc}- for Galesburg in 1880, and was twice 
elected member of the Illinois house of repre- 
sentatives, in 1888 and 1890. He was candi- 
date oil the Republican ticket for attorney gen- 
eral in 1892, and was elected to the fifty-fourth, 
fifty-fifth, fifty-sixth and fifty-seventh congresses 
of the United States as a' member of the house. 
He gives the Republican' party an active, un- 
wavering and earnest support, has accomplished 
much for his district, and contributed both monev 



and time toward the public interests of his 
home city. 

]\Ir. Prince is a member of the Phi Delta 
Theta, Greek letter society; a member of the I. O. 
O. F., of the ^lodern \\'oodmen of America and 
a Knight Templar, and is a member of the Cen- 
tra! Congregational church of Galesburg. 

Mr. Prince was married April 20, 1882, to 
]\Iiss Lillie C. Ferris, of Galesburg, daughter of 
Henrv and Elizabeth Ferris, who were the first 
couple married in the colony which founded 
Galesburg. They have four sons, Frederick A., 
Geoi-ge W., Henry F. and Irving H., all living, 
and one infant son, James, dead. 



•^ 



LOUIS M. STUMER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 






Louis M. Stumer, senior member of the firm 
Stumer, Rosenthal & Ekstein, the largest milli- 
nery establishment in Chicago, and president of 
the largest millinery house in the world, Strauss 
c^- Stumer Mercantile Company, of St. Louis, 
Missouri, is a young man of great 
N Imsiness ability. Unremitting 

i zeal in pushing his business in- 

^=^^ terests has placed him, at the age 

4 



)f thirty-three years, among the 



* 



leading merchants of the west. 
Louis M. Stumer was born at 
Baltimore, Marj'land, April 24, 
1869, and is a son of Michael and 
Jennie (Kellner) Stumer. His 
parents moved to Chicago when 
lit was a child of but one year of age. His edu- 
cation was had at the Chicago public schools and 
at Notre Dame College of Indiana, which latter 
institution he left in 1884 and entered the law 
office of Rosenthal & Pence, of Chicago, where 
he remained for a time. Later he took a course 
in a business college, and at the age of eighteen 
we find him managing the store of his father on 



^^'est Madison street. In 1889 he started in the 
millinery business and rented the department at 
the Bee Hive, which business he tripled the first 
year. In 1890, when but twenty-one years of 
age, he organized the firm of Stumer, Rosenthal 
& Ekstein, adding the building known as the 
"Emporium," which firm and business still con- 
tinues with a large and constantly increasing 
trade. The firm owns and operates several large 
interests on State street, one being the Millinery 
World, a large wholesale and retail millinery 
store located at No. 233 State street. 

Mr. Stumer is one of the owners of the 
American Restaurant, the North American 
Restaurants, the Public Drug Company, all of 
Chicago, and in 1899 became president of the 
larg^est millinery house in the world, organized as 
Strauss & Stumer Mercantile Company of St. 
Louis. The firm of Stumer, Rosenthal & Ekstein 
recently leased of the Chicago board of education 
grounds and building on the southwest corner of 
State and ^Monroe streets for ninety-nine years 
at an annual rental of fifty-six thousand dollars 
per year. They have remodeled the building, at 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



163 



a cost of one hundred thousand dollars, and it is 
now all rented. 

Mr. Stumer is never happy unless busy. Dur- 
ing the Peace Jubilee he was the chairman of the 
committee on decorations. He is a member of 
the Standard and Lakeside Clubs, Director Chi- 
cago Home for Jewish Orphans, and has always 
been very active in Jewish charities, was a direc- 



tor in Young Men's Hebrew Charity Association 
and has traveled extensively. He is a member of 
Sinai congregation. Politically he is a Republi- 
can, and takes an active interest in politics. 

'Slv. Stumer was united in marriage Decem- 
ber 14, 1899, to Blanche R., daughter of Morris 
Grieshiemer, of Chicago. They have one child, 
a daughter, Lois Margaret, born July 4, 1901. 



HON. CHARLES HENRY DIETRICH 

HASTINGS, NEB. 



Charles Henry Dietrich, the brilliant young- 
senator, ex-governor and statesman of Nebraska, 
has, in a few short years, won distinguished hon- 
ors in the affairs of state. He was elected gov- 
ernor of Nebraska in 1900, and elected United 
States senator March 28, 1901, to fill out the un- 
expired temi of the late Senator Hayward, suc- 
ceeding W. V. Allen, appointed by Governor 
Poynter. Air. Dietrich resigned the governor- 
ship May I, 1 90 1, and took his seat in the United 
States senate December 2, 1901. He is very 
popular in Nebraska, and has always been fore- 
most in all public enterprises looking toward the 
growth and prosperity of his home city and state, 
and has always been an enthusiastic Rq>ublican, 
giving his party an earnest and unwavering sup- 
port. 

C. H. Dietrich was born at Aurora, Illinois, 
in 1853. His paraits, Leonhard Dietrich and 
Wilhelmina Caroline Dietrich, were born at 
Darmstadt, Germany. In 1848, on account of 
his radical espousal of the cause of the patriots, 
Leonard Dietrich was obliged to flee from his 
native land. The family first settled in St. Louis, 
but afterward removed to Aurora, Illinois. 

Charles H. Dietrich attended the public 
schools of his native city, and at the age of nine 
first began to contribute to his own support. At 
twelve he worked out among the fanners near 



Aurora, and at sixteen remo\'ed to St. Joe, Mis- 
souri, and obtained a position with the Wyeth 
Hardware Company. In 1871 he went to Chi- 
cago and engaged in the same business until 1873, 
when he started for Arkansas to engage in busi' 
ness for himself. While traveling through that 
state he was set upon by highwaymen and robbed 
of all he possessed and left in a nearly dying con- 
dition, but nothing daunted, he went to work 
again to regain what he had lost. 

In 1877 ]\Ir. Dietrich, in company with others, 
located the famous Aurora mine, in the Black 
Hills, and in 1878 sold his share to Brown & 
Thumb, bankers, of Deadwood, Roscoe Conklin 
and T. C. Piatt, of New York, and Senator Si>en- 
cer, of Alabama, for a good round sum, which 
gave him his start in life. In September, 1878, 
he engaged in the mercantile business in Hast- 
ings, Nebraska, where he has since resided. He 
has been closely identified with the progress and 
development of Hastings, giving unsparingly 
both O'f time and money to all enterprises for the 
benefit of his town, and to church and charitable 
organizations. He was instrumental in organiz- 
ing the German National Bank of that city, of 
wliich he is \v>w president. He is a member of 
several societies, a Shriner, a thirty-second de- 
gree Scottish Rite, an Elk, a Woodman of the 
World, a Maccabee and Highlander. He has 



164 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



traveled all over Europe, including Russia, and IMiss Elizabeth Slaker, of Aurora, Illinois, and 

also in China. Japan. Philippines. Sandwich who died in 1887. leaving- one child. JMiss Ger- 

Islands and Mexico. trude E. Dietrich, now attending Bryn ]\Iawr 

]\Ir. Dietrich was married in May. 1878, to College. 



ROBERT W. HUNT 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



A man in whom is placed implicit confidence 
and whose work has been, to a large degree, in 
that department which demands of its representa- 
tives the utmost reliability and most unswen-ing 
fidelity to the interests entrusted to his care, is 
Robert \\". Hunt, senior member of the engineer- 
ing and inspection lirm of Robert W. Hunt & 
Company, who have their general offices in the 
'"Rookery" at Chicago, Illinois, with branches in 
New York City and Pittsburg. The firm was 
established in 1888 and is composed of Robert W. 
Hunt, John J. Cone. A. W. Fiero. James C. 
Hallsted and D. \V. McNaugher. 

Their principal business is the inspection of ' 
railroad and structure material, such as bridges, 
rails, splice bars, bolts, nuts, spikes, locomotives 
and cars. They also have a special department 
for the testing of the efficiency of engines and 
boilers. In this connection they have been em- 
ployed by the city of Chicago^ to supervise the 
■constructiiin and erection of the engines pur- 
chased by the city in the last three years, and in 
addition, have represented the city in the final 
duty tests on which the engines were accepted. 
They also represented the city of St. Paul in the 
same capacity and the city of Buffalo. 

Tlie investigation and reporting upon manu- 
facturing establishments has l:)ecome a very im- 
portant branch. Some of the largest industrial 
concerns in the United States have been reported 
upon by them, and upon such reports the reor- 
ganization and the placement of bonds have been 
made. In connection with the growing export 



trade of the United States in both metals and ma- 
chiner\-, the firm has been employed by foreign 
purchasers to supervise the execution of their 
contracts. This covers not only railroad ma- 
terial but pumping engines, cars and bridges. 
Air. Hunt was identified with the manufacturing 
of Bessemer steel in America from its earliest 
introduction, and had charge of the first Bessemer 
steel plant operated in America, located at Wy- 
andotte, Alichigan, and afterward the steel de- 
partment of the Cambria Iron Company at Johns- 
town, Pennsylvania, and the Troy Steel and Iron 
Company at Troy, New York. In fact, the earli- 
est steel rails manufactured in this country on a 
commercial basis were under !Mr. Hunt's direc- 
tion and it was based upon his long experience 
as a manufacturer that the firm of Robert W. 
Hiuit & Company was established. The other 
members are all educated engineers and men who 
have had long- practical experience. 

.\s necessary to their business, the firm has 
thoroughly equipped chemical and physical 
laboratories in which the assaying of ores and the 
analysis of metals, oils, paints, etc., as well as the 
physical testing of materials, are conducted. 
Their reputation is so well known that they have, 
as patrons, nearly all the most prominent railway 
systems in the country, and fully seventy-five per 
cent, of the rails manufactured in America being 
subiect to their inspection. 

Mr. Hunt is past-president of the American 
Institute of Mining Engineers, the American So- 
cietv of Mechanical Engineers and the Western 




K>^jVi.>vJr" CW . Koa^^laJw 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



167 



Society of Engineers, and is also a member of 
the American Society of Civil Engineers, and 
acted as secretary of the committee of that society 
which designed and recommended the rail sec- 
tions which are now recognized as the standard 
ones by the majority of the railroads of the 
United States. He is also a member of the Iron 
and Steel Institute of London, the Institution of 
Civil Engineers and the Institution of Mechani- 
cal Engineers. 

Mr. Hunt's specifications for the manufacture 
of steel rails are recognized as standard ones, and 
his papers contributed to the several scientific 
societies tO' which he belongs have had a very 
large influence upijn the development of the steel 



industry of America. In fact, he is recognized 
as an authority on the subject both in this coun- 
try and in Europe. 

Mr. Hunt \\as born at Tallsington, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, 1S3S, and is a son of Dr. 
Robert A. Hunt and Maettia L. Hunt. Mr. Hunt 
was married in 1866 to Miss Eleanor Clark, of 
Ecorie. Michigan. He is a member of the Chi- 
cago Union Technical Club, of Chicago; the 
Ducjuesne, of Pittsljurg; and the Engineers, of 
New York. He also' belongs toi the Glen View, 
Chicago ; St. Andrews and Essex County Golf 
Clubs. Mr. Hunt is a man of action; his entire 
life has been devoted to his profession, in which 
he lias attained great success. 



HON. CHARLES BEARY LANDIS 



DELPHI, IND. 



Hon. Charles B. Landis. member of congress 
from the nintli district of the state of Indiana, is 
a son of Abraham H. and Marx- K. ( Kumler) 
Landis, and was born at Milville, Butler county, 
Ohio', July 9, 1858. His education was obtained 
at the Logansport (Indiana) high school and at 
the Wabash College at Crawfords\-ilie, Indiana. 
He served four years, from 1883 to 1887, as 
editor of the Logansport (Indiana) Journal, and 
at the time of his first nomination to congress 
vas the editor of the Delphi (Indiana) Journal. 



In 1894 he was elected president of the Indi- 
ana Republican Editorial Association, and was 
re-elected in 1895 ; was elected to the fifty-fifth 
and fifty-sixth congresses and re-elected to the 
fifty-seventh. 

Mr. Landis is a Mason, Knight of Pythias 
and an Elk. In religious matters a Protestant, 
and politically a Republican and a leader in the 
party ranks of his state. Mr. Landis was mar- 
ried in 1887 to Miss Cora B. Chaffin. They 
have two children, John and Jilai^y Landis. 



HON. HENRY BILLINGS BROWN 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Hon. Henry B. Brown, for ele\'en years asso- or through the great west, with a previously 
ciate justice of the highest tribunal in this coun- established record as one of the most brilliant 
try. and one of the highest in the world, the lawyers of the bar in the state of Michigan, 
supreme court of the United States, was consid- Henry B. Brown was Imrn at South Lee, Massa- 
cred when appointed to the supreme bench, in clinsetts, March 2, 1836, and is a son of Billings 
1890, one of the most eminent judges in the state and Mary (Tyler) Brown. 



1 68 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Judge Brown was graduated from Yale in 
1856, studied law for some time in a private 
office, attended lectures both at Yale and Harvard 
Law Schools, and was admitted to the bar, going 
to Detroit in i860, when he began the practice of 
law. In the spring of 1861, upon the election of 
Mr. Lincoln as president of the United States, 
was appointed deputy marshal of the United 
States, and subsequently assistant United States 
attorney for the eastern district of Michigan, a po- 
sition he held until 1868, when he was appointed 
judge of the state circuit court of ^^'ayne county, 
to till a vacancy; served for a few months, then 
returned to acti\e practice, in partnership with 
John S. Newberi-y and Ashley Pond, of Detroit, 
which continued until 1875, when he was ap- 
pointed by President Grant district judge for the 



eastern district of Michigan, to succeed the Hon. 
John W. Longyear. 

December 2t,. 1S90, he was appointed associ- 
ate justice of the supreme court, to succeed Jus- 
tice Samuel F. Miller; was unanimously con- 
firmed December 29, and took the oath of office 
January 5, 189 i. 

Judge Brown received the degree of LL. D. 
from the I'niversity of Michigan in 1887, and 
from Yale University in 1891. The Judge is a 
widel\'-tra\-eled gentleman, having visited most 
all p( ints in the United States, and often spend- 
ing his summers in Europe. 

Judge Brown was married July 13, 1864, to 
Miss Caroline Pitts, daughter of Samuel Pitts, 
of Detroit, Michigan. Tliey have no children. 
Mrs. Brown died July 11, 1901. 



COL. GEORGE W. DIXON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Col. George W. Dixon, of Chicago, Illinois, 
was born in that city, attended the common 
schools and in 1885 graduated from the West 
Division high school and then euitered the 
Northwestern University, from which institution 
he graduated in 1889. ]\Ir. Dixon 
then entered the law department 
of the same institution and com- 
pleted the course with the class of 
1892, being elected president of 
the graduating class. ]\Ir. Dixon 
is a man of fine business quali- 
fications, sound judgment and a 
high sense of business honor, and 
in the business world of Chicago 
he stands very high. He has the 
happv faculty of making stanch friends of all 
those with whom he comes in contact. Mr. Dixon 
is secretary and treasurer of the Arthur Dixon 
Transfer Company, 299 Fifth a\enue, Chicago. 




In politics Mr. Dixon is a Republican. He 
identified himself with that great party in his 
earlv manhood and is a thorough believer in the 
principles of his party and its policies of govern- 
ment and has a great admiration for its history. 
Mr. DixDU is aid-de-camp to the governor, with 
rank as colonel, and was appointed to that position 
by Governor Yates January 28, 1901. May 20, 
1902, Colonel Dixon was nominated for the state 
senate by the Republican convention of the first 
senatorial district of Chicago. He is a mem- 
Ijer of the Union League Club, the Hamilton 
Club, the University Club, the Chicago Athletic 
Association and the Calumet Club. He was sec- 
retary of the Hamilton Club in 1894 and 1895 
and chairman of the committee on political action 
in 1898 and 1899. Colonel Dixon is also a mem- 
ber of the Masonic fraternity, being a member of 
the Garden City Lodge, No. 141, and is also a 
Roval Arch Mason, belonging to Wasliington 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



169 



Chapter, No. 43. He has been initiated into 
the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, 
Oriental Consistory and is a Sir Knight and 
Apollo coiTimander. i\lr. Dixon is a memljer of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, is an active 
church worker, and was superintendent of the 
Sunday-school of his church. He was elected 



secretary of the Chicago Methodist Social Union 
in 1897, which position he held until 1900, when 
he was chosen president. 

Mr. Dixon belongs to one of the old and 
prominent families of this city, his father, Arthur 
Dixon, being one of the most influential and re- 
spected citizens of Chicago. 



HON. ALFRED METCALF JACKSON 

WINFIELD, KANS. 



Hon. Alfred ]\I. Jackson, member of congress 
from the third district, state of Kansas, judge and 
lawyer, is a son of Dr. Alfred M. Jackson, a na- 
ti\'e of Kentucky and a noted physician, and a 
member of the Kentucky constitutional conven- 
tion in 1849. He died in 1865. The mother was 
Martha (Sophia) Jackson. 

Alfred M. Jackson's education was finished 
at the West Kentucky College. He studied law 
and was admitted to the bar in Kentucky in 1880. 
He left Kentucky in 1881, locating at Howaid, 
Elk county, Kansas, and engaged in the practice 
of law; was elected county attorney in 1890, and 
in 1892 was elected judge of the thirteenth judi- 



cial district of Kansas, where he served one term 
and then moved to ^^^infield and engaged in the 
practice of law. Judge Jackson was elected a 
member of the fifty-seventh congress in 1900, 
from the third district of Kansas. He is a thirty- 
second-degree Mason, a Knight Templar and an 
Elk. He is a strong Democrat, an able lawyer 
and a leader in his state. 

Judge Jackson was married July 19, 1898, to 
Miss Lydia Robie, of Bath, New York, daughter 
of Jonathan Rijliie. Her grandfather was a 
member of congress and her father was promi- 
nent in politics in Bath, New York, and inter- 
ested in many enterprises in that city. 



HON. ROBERT WALTER MIERS 

BLOOMINGTON, IND. 



Roliert Walter Miers, member of congress 
from the second district of Indiana, lawyer and 
judge, was born in Decatur county, Indiana, Jan- 
uary 27, 1848, and is the son of Thomas S. and 
Mahala ]\Iiers. He is a graduate of both the 
literary and the law departments of Indiana 
University, and commenced the practice of his 
profession at Bloomington, Indiana, immediately 
after graduating in 1872, and has lived tliere 
continuousl)- since. In 1875 'le was elected prose- 
cuting attorney of the tenth judicial circuit, and 



re-elected in 1877. He was elected to the house 
of representatives of the Indiana legislature in 
1879, and was a trustee of the Indiana University 
from 1881 to 1893. He was twice nominated for 
secretary of state by the Democrats but defeated 
both times with the rest of the ticket. Mr. Miers 
was appointed judge of the tenth judicial circuit 
in 1883 to fill an unexpired term, and elected to 
the same office in 1890 and served as judge until 
September, 1896, when he resigned and accepted 
tlic nomination of the Democratic congressional 



170 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



convention, and was elected to the tifty-tifth and 
fifty-sixth congresses and re-elected to the fifty- 
se\enth congress. 

Robert W. Miers is a Democrat in politics, 
a memljer of the Preshvterian church, and a 



member of the Order of Elks since 1901. Air. 
Aliers was married May 9, 1871, to Aliss Belle 
R. Ryors, daughter of Dr. Alfred Ryors, ex- 
president of Indiana Uni\-ersity and Center Col- 
lege, at Danville, Kentucky. 



THOMAS S. HOGAN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



With a mind as vigorous as his body is robust, 
of pleasing address, liberal scholarship, combined 
with a natural ability of high order, probably no 
member of the Chicago bar is more favorably 
known and has more personal friends than the 
subject of this sketch. 

Thomas S. Hogan is justly proud of being 
a native Chicagoan. His father, Al. W. Hogan, 
was one of the prominent lawyers in the early 
history oi this city, having been admitted to the 
Illinois bar in 1855, and afterward removing to 
Missouri, where he served three successive terms 
as state's attorney for the county of St. Louis. 

The early education of young Hogan was re- 
ceived at the Christian Brothers Academy and 
the St. Louis University, completing the course 
with high honors; after which he graduated from 
the Law Department of the \\"'ashington Uni- 
versity, from which institutiim he recei\'ed the 
degree of LL. B. 

During his attendance and after his gradu- 
ation from the above mentioned university Air. 
Hogan read law in the office of his father, ex- 
Governor Thomas C. Reynolds and Hon. Irwin 
Z. Smith, who were among the most prominent 
lawyers of the west. With a scholastic training 
and well equipped, theoretically and practically, 
in the law. Air. Hogan's foundation of legal 
knowledge was thorough and in after life has 
served him most advantageously. 

In 1886 he returned to Chicago, where he has 
resided since, actively engaged in the arduous 



work of his profession. By his untiring energy 
and constant zeal Air. Hogan has fully merited 
the high esteem in which he is held and recog- 
nized as a lawyer throughout the country. He 
has been identified with many intricate cases, 
notably the Bowman divorce case, the case of 
Jesse Holdom, Concervator of Paul Holtz, vs. 
The Ancient Order of United ^\'oodmen. The 
case of Plate Renters Publishing Company of 
New York vs. Charles Frohman and James AI. 
Barrie, concerning the copyright of the well- 
kn(iwn play, "The Little Alinistcr," imxilving an 
amount of more than one million and a half of 
dollars and which attracted the attention of the 
entire theatrical world. After many days ex- 
pounding the law fully upon the subject he 
achie\ed a great legal victory for his clients. Air. 
Charles Frohman, the great theatrical manager, 
and Air. James AI. Barrie, the well-kn^wn Eng- 
lish playwright. 

Air. Hogan is a man of highly cultivated lit- 
erary tastes, and possesses a library containing 
the classics of the English language. Courteous 
and genial in manner, and having traveled ex- 
ten.sively, an entertaining conversationalist, he is 
replete with reminiscences of the many historic 
places and distinguished people he has come in 
contact with, and as a consequence is much 
sought after where intellect and learning are the 
passports. 

As a public reader Air. Hogan enjoys dis- 
tinction, having a clear, musical, well-modulated 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



173 



voice. While but a young man he was unani- 
mously elected to the position of reading clerk of 
the thirty-third general assembly of Missouri. 
Being possessed of commanding presence and im- 
pressiv'e appearance, he is a conspicuous tigure in 
any assemblage. As a jury orator he is known 
universally, and has been signally successful in 
securing very large verdicts for his clients. 

Among the prominent clubs of Chicago we 
find the name of Thomas S. Hogan, he being an 
influential member of the Chicago Athletic Asso- 
ciation, the Chicago Lodge of Elks, the Columbus 
Club, the Illinois C)xling Club and the Illinois 
State Bar Association, and is associated with 
several of the leading clubs in New York, Lon- 
don and Paris. 



Since ]\Ir. Hogan"s voluntary retirement 
from the firm which he so largely contributed to 
l:)uild up, his Inisiness has increased perceptibly, 
and to-day he represents some of the largest 
financial interests in Chicago for attorneys in the 
east and abroad. Very recently he has been re- 
tained by a client who resides in Calcutta, India, 
to look after a large estate located in the far 
west. Mr. Hogan's practice is not confined to 
;iny one class of litigation, but is, properly 
termed, an "all around lawyer," being, as he is, 
perfectly familiar with all branches of the law. 

Mr. Hogan's future is guaranteed, possess- 
ing, as he does, those elements that, where rightly 
directed in the proper channel, compel laudable 
achievement. 



HON. JOEL P. HEATWOLE 



NORTHFIELD, MINN. 



Joel Prescott Heatwole was born August 22, 
1856, at Waterford, Elkhart county, Indiana. 
His father, Henry Heatwole, was a physician, 
born in Rockingham county, Virginia. His 
mother, Barbara Culp (Kolb), a native of Ohio, 
and of German descent. Original stock, both an- 
cestors, German. 

Learned printing trade, conducted a paper 
and taught school before twenty years old. 
Moved tO' Minnesota in 1882, settled at Glencoe 
and edited the Glencoe Enterprise: did newspajier 
work in Duluth summer and fall of 1883 : in the 
winter of t 883-4 again erlited Glencoe Enter- 
prise; and in March, 1884, purcliased the North- 
field News, of which he is still proprietor. 

In 1886 was made member of ^Minnesota Re- 
publican state central committee, and was elected 
secretary and mem1>er of executive committee, 
which position was held until 1890, when he was 
elected chairman. Served six years as regent 
University of Minnesota. In 1888 was unani- 



mously elected delegate at large to the national 
Republican convention, Chicago. Elected mayor 
of home city, Northfield, in 1894, March. In the 
fall of 1894 elected tO' fifty-fourth congress; re- 
elected to the fifty-fifth, fifty-sixth and fifty-sev- 
enth congresses, each time with increased ma- 
jorities. 

In the fifty-fourth congress was made mem- 
ber of the house committee on foreign afifairs. In 
fifty-fifth congress ser\'ed as member of com- 
mittee on foreign afifairs, committee on census 
and was made chairman of committee on ventila- 
tion and acoustics. Was also' one of the sub- 
committee of three, having charge of all resolu- 
tions pertaining to Cuba. Was one of the three 
managers on part of the house having in charge 
the famous resolution which led to the war with 
Spain. In fifty-sixth congress was retained as 
member of committee on foreign affairs and on 
the census committee; was made chairman of 
printing ci immittee ; also served on committee on 



«74 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Washington centennial, committee on examina- 
tion and disposition of documents : was chairman 
hoard of visitors to the United States Xaval 
Academy at Annapohs. Appointments for fifty- 
seventh congress : Foreign affairs ; select com- 
mittee on the census; printing, chairman; select 



committee on examination and disposition of 
documents. 

\\'as president Minnesota Editors and Pub- 
lishers Association for three successive terms. 

December 4, 1890, was married to Mrs. Ger- 
trude L. Archibald. 



CHARLES C. CARNAHAN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




Charles C. Carnahan, senior member of the 
law firm of Carnahan. Slusser & Hawkes, is 
looked upon as one (if tlie progressive lawyers of 
the Cook county bar. 

Mr. Carnahan was born at Cochran's ^Nlills, 
in western Pennsylvania, April 
3, 1868, and is a son of William 
II. and Maria L. (McKee) Car- 
nahan, now residing at Apollo, 
Pennsylvania. He springs from 
good old American stock, his 
maternal great-grandfather hav- 
ing received from the govern- 
ment a large tract of land 
in western Pennsylvania, upon 
which the village of Worthing- 
ton now stands, for services rendered the govern- 
ment during the Revolution. The family names 
of his grandparents are, resi>ecti\ely. Carnahan 
and Turck, INlcKee and Henry. 

Mr. Carnahan acquired his early education at 
the village schools, in the meantime during va- 
cations and after school hours clerking in his 
father's general store, and in harvest season he 
assisted in gathering the harvest on his father's 
farm, situated near the village. At the age of 
seventeen he taught school at Cochran's Mills for 
ten months. 

He received his collegiate education at Hills- 
dale College, Hillsdale. Michigan. In the spring 
of 1890 he passed the preliminary law exami- 
nation in Kittaiming, the county seat of his home 



countv. and was then registered as a law clerk 
and read law in the office of J. \\'. King, a promi- 
nent attorney there, until the fall of 1891, at 
which time he came to Chicago and entered the 
Chicago College of Law, a branch of Lake For- 
rest University, and was admitted tO' the bar by 
the supreme court of Illinois in 1892. He re- 
ceived the degree of LL. B. from Lake Forrest 
University in the spring of 1893. 

Immediately upon his admission to the bar 
he opened an office in the Chamber of Commerce 
Iniilding in Chicago, and January i, 1893, formed 
a partnership with James Heckman, under the 
firm name of Heclcman & Carnahan, which part- 
nership continued al>out four years, when it was 
dissolved, and the firm of Heath, Carnahan & 
Stoll was formed. This continued until the 
spring of 1899 being then dissolved on account 
of Mr. Heath moving east to act as counsel for 
a large corporation. 

The present firm of Carnahan, Slusser & 
Hawkes was then formed. r\Ir. Slusser is the 
present state's attorney for Dupage county. The 
firm enjoys a Lirge and constantly increasing 
practice, and has l>een of recent years connected 
with some of the largest litigations in Cook 
county. Mr. Carnahan is a member of the Chi- 
cago Bar Association and the Chicago Law Insti- 
tute, was until recently a member of the political 
action committee of the Lincoln Club of Chicago, 
and is identified with a number of societies. He 
is a thirtv-second degree Mason, being a member 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



175 



of Oriental Consistory; a member of Medinah 
Temple of the Mystic Shrine; a member of the 
Knights of Pythias, the National Union, the 
college fraternity of Phi Delta Theta, and others. 
Mr. Carnahan was married in 1894 to Miss 
Katherine A. Hawkes, of Chicago, Illinois, and 



they resided for a time in the suburb of Down- 
er's Grove, in Dupage county, in which county, 
at the time of his remo\al tO' Chicago, Mr. Car- 
nahan was a member of the Republican county 
central committee. In 1900 he was Republican 
nominee for cungress in the fifth district. 



BENJAMIN C. HAWKES 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Among the younger meml^ers of the Cook 
county bar is Benjamin C. Hawkes, junior mem- 
ber of the well-known firm of Carnahan. Slusser 
&• Hawkes, with offices at No. 100 Washington 
street. Chicago. Mr. Hawkes is a native of 
_ Chicago and was born in that 

^^^ ^5\ '"'ty October 8. 1874, being a son 

^^ ^^^ of Moses A. and Louise R. 

W *^ " (Starrett) Hawkes. He was 

■tl, -'- educated in the Chicago^ public 

^_ schools, North Division High 

J ^^ School and the Northwestern 

^^P J^^^^^^ University Preparatory. Later 
^B' M^^^^^^f '^^ entered the Chicago College of 
^^ dSKpf^ll^^l^^^ Law, the Law Department of the 
Lake Forest University and 
graduated in 1895, being admitted to the liar in 
November. 1896. He has practiced e\er since, 
at first alone for tw(.> vears, and then turmed a 



partnership with Mr. C. C. Carnahan and M. 
Slusser. His si>ecialty is corporation law, and in 
the practice of which he has gained much promi- 
nence. He is president of the Standard Playing 
Card Compan)-. with factory at Chicago, and is 
interested financially in various other corpora- 
tions. Mr. Hawkes is a member of the A. F. & 
A. M., thirty-second degree Mason, a member of 
the Oriental Consistory, Medina Temple Shrine, 
Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of For- 
esters and of various social clubs. Politically he 
is a Republican, and has supported the party from 
the time he cast his first ballot, ahvays working 
for its best interests. In religious matters he at- 
tends the Methodist Episcopal church. 

Mr. Hawkes was united in marriage, October 
5, i8g8, to Miss Mary A. Belknap, daughter of 
Mr. Stephen W. Belknap, of Chicago. They have 
one son. two j-ears of age. 



HON. ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRICK 

SOUTH BEND, IND. 



Hon. Abraham L. Brick, member of congress 
from the thirteenth district of the state of Indi- 
ana, lawyer, is a son of William and Mary (Cal- 
vert) Brick, and was burn in Warren township, 
St. Joseph county. Indiana, May 27, 185 1. His 
education was obtained at the country school, 
high school, Yale, Cornell and in the Law Depart- 
ment of the Michigan L^ni\-ersity. from which he 



graduated in 1883. Upon graduating he im- 
mediately began the practice of law, and has con- 
tinued it ever since. He is now a leading mem- 
ber of the bar of Indiana. 

Mr. Brick was prosecutor in 1885 and 1886, 
and was elected a member of the fifty-sixth and 
fifty-seventh congresses. He was a member of 
the state central committee of the Republican 



176 



PRO.MIXENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



party for four }ears and a delegate to the St. and politically a Republican and a leader in the 

Louis Republican national convention held in ranks of the jxirty in his state. 
1896. Air. Brick was married in 1885 to Miss Anna 

In religious matters he is an Episcopalian. .Meyers. They have one daughter. 



WILLIAM SIDNEY ELLIOTT, JR. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

BY GENERAL GREEN B. RAL'M 



"William S. Elliott. Jr., is now in the full 
vigor of physical and intellectual manhood. As 
a lawyer he stands upon a level with the most 
able, successful and distinguished attorneys of 
the state. This position has not been reached by 
accident nor by a sudden and unexpected tlight. 
Eiitering the profession twent_\-t\vo years ago, 
earnest devotion to study, a rare aptitude for the 
profession and an extraordinary experience in 
practice before the courts ha\-e made him a mas- 
ter of the law. Nature has been kind to ]\Ir. 
Elliott; physically he is a iine specimen of human- 
ity; he possesses a constitution of iron; his facul- 
ties are always on the aleri ; quick perception, 
unfailing memory, unerring judgment and an in- 
domitable energy, with an extensive knowledge 
of human nature, have made his rise ti; his ])res- 
ent position natural and inevitable. Air. Elliott 
in the course of his practice has been engaged 
in more than seven thousand cases, he has con- 
ducted the defense in fort^-tixu trials for murder 
and has been employed on one side or the other 
of many of the most important and intricate cases 
ever decided in the courts of Illinois. Air. Elliott 
did not begin the study of law in his youth; after 
passing through the public and academical schools 
of Quincy, Illinois, he took employment in a 
banking house in that citv, where he mastered 
the business of banking, from sweeping out the 
office to the duties of bookkeeper, teller and as- 
sistant cashier. After devoting three years and 
a half to this Inisiness he came to Chicago, and 



en.tered the insurance business, but ele\-en years 
of active business life in Chicago failed tO' satisfy 
his ambitious nature. He sought a broader field 
for the development of his intellectual forces. 

"At thirty years of age, in 1879, Air. Elliott 
decided to enter upon the study of law ; he was 
fortunate in the friendship of two of the ablest 
lawyers at the Chicago bar, Luther Lailin Alills 
and Emery A. Storrs. Upon the advice and in- 
fluence of the one, he entered the office of the 
other, and set himself the task of becoming a 
lawyer. Air. Storrs soon recognized the fine busi- 
ness qualifications and the aptitude for the law of 
Air. Elliott. Upon his admission to the bar. Air. 
Storrs offered Air. Elliott a partnershii) in his 
law business, which Air. Storrs had conducted 
with such extraordinary ability as to gi\e him a 
national fame. These two men, unlike m almosi 
everything else except their agreement in poli- 
tics and their devotion to their profession, worked 
together harmoniously and successfully until their 
partnership was dissoh-eil Ijy the death of Air- 
Storrs. 

"Continuing the practice if law after the 
death of Air. Storrs, Air. Ellidt was appointed 
assistant state's attorney under Judge Longe- 
necker. He held this position for five years. 
During this period he disposed of nearly six 
thousand cases. He prosecuted and brought to 
justice many noted criminals, and became a terror 
to evil-doers in general. 

"Upon retiring from the office of assistant 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



179 



state's attorney Mr. Elliutt resumed liis private 
practice, whicli lias grown to a large and lucrative 
one, and. as has been seen, he has been called to 
the defense of more men accused of high crimes 
than almost any lawyer in the state, and has been 
one of the most successful defenders. In the 
course o-f his practice Mr. Elliott has secured the 
respect and friendship of the judges before whom 
he has practiced and the good will of the lawyers 
with whom he has associated. 

"Mr. Elliott has not neglected his duties as 
a citizen. He has loeen identified with the Re- 
publican party from his early manhood. He has 
never held an elective office for himself, but has 
been an active worker for the success of the 
party. He is thoroughly familiar with the prin- 
ciples, policies and history of parties. He is an 
able and accomplished political speaker, and has 
talcen an active part in every campaign during the 
past twenty years. While a man of elocpience and 
pleasing address, he speaks not simply to amuse 
but to instruct. He is always subject to the call 
of the party org-anization, has delivered many 
speeches to w^ard, city, county, state and other 
clubs,, and is always in demand as a public 
speaker. [Mr. Elliott was a candidate fur the 
nomination for state's attorney of Cook county 
before the Republican convention in the fall of 
1884, and in the Republican city convention' of 
March 15. 1885. he received no votes o-ut of .257 
for the Repuljlican iinminalion for the office of 
city attorney. Hempstead Washburn secured the 
other 147, and the nomination. 

"A true estimate of a man's character cannot 
be formed by wdiat he does in connection with his 
profession or in politics, for these really are sub- 
ordinate to the home life and the social life. Mr. 
Elliott has a delightful social side to his char- 
acter; he was one of the early promoters of the 
Apollo Music Club of Chicago, and it owes its 
early success to his liberality and energy. He 
belongs to the blue lodge, chapter, council and 
ccmmandery of the IMasonic fraternity, is a mem- 
11 



her of the Royal League, the Royal Arcanum, the 
National I'nioii, the Ancient Order of Foresters, 
and is a nohle of the Mystic Shrine; he also be- 
longs to the Illinois, ^larquette, Hamilton, Lin- 
coln and Menoken Cluljs ; to the Art Institute, 
and is an associate member of Columbia Post, 
G. A. R. He is an acti\e menil>er of the First 
Congregational church of Chicago. 

Mr. Elliott has a delightful home, a fine li- 
brary and many beautiful works of art. His col- 
lection of portraits of distinguished men hanging 
ill his office suggests his lo\e of art. 

'A\'illiam S. Elliott, Jr., was born May i, 
1849, ''t Niles, Michigan. He traces his lineage 
in a direct descent from John Eliot, of Massa- 
chusetts, the great missionary to' the Indians, as 
follows: Joseph Eliot (.2), Jared Eliot (3), 
Aaron Eliot (4), Samuel Smithson Eliot (5), 
William Wortliington Elliott (6), William Sid- 
ney Elliott (7), William Sidney Elliott, Jr., (8). 

"William Sidney Elliott, the father, was born 
January 18, 1S13. in North Hampton, Montgom- 
ery county, New York. Six years later his par- 
ents moved to Balston Spa, Saratoga county, and 
engaged in agricultural pursuits. Young Elliott 
attended school in the winter, worked on his 
father's farm in the summer, and in 1833 taught 
school in Rochester. At an early date Mr. Elliott 
espoused the anti-slavery cause and was a dele- 
gate to the first anti-slavery convention held in 
New York state, which met at Utica in 1835. 
The opposition to this assemblage was so great 
tliat the convention was dispersed. Garrett 
Smith, who was present at that meeting, ex- 
pressed indignation at the action of the people, 
espoused the cause represented by the convention 
and invited its members to meet in his city and 
ai his house to finish their deliberatlions. The ac- 
tion of Mr. Elliott on this occasion show-ed that 
the anti-slavery blond of his ancestor, John Eliot, 
flowed ill his veins. Mr. F.llii>tt moved to Michi- 
gan, settling about a hundred miles east of Chi- 
cago, and never failed an opportunity tO' aid a 



i8o 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



slave fleeing nortliward to gain his freedom. 
About 1857 Mr. Elliott moved to Quincy, Illinois, 
wliere he settled with his famil_\-. He was a 
strong supporter of the Union cause during the 
Civil war, and aided in equipping men of younger 
years for the great struggle. Mr. Elliott, in 
1840, supjxarted William Henry Harrison for 
president, and was an earnest Republican in his 
latter years. He died in 1899, af the advanced 
age of eighty-seven, and was buried at Niles, 
Michigan. 

"William S. Elliott, Jr., was marrietl October 
14. 1871, to Alinda Caroline Harris, daughter of 
James and Salome Harris, of Janesville, ^^'is- 
consin. Mrs. Elliott is a lady of refinement and 
culture, a prnminent memlier of several social, 
ethical, religious and charitable organizations, 
among them the Arche Club, the Women's West 
End Club and the Chicago Culture Club. Their 
children are Lorenzo B. Elliott, a graduate of 
Kent College of Law and post-graduate and 
Bachelor of Laws of Lake Purest University : 
Daniel Morse Elliotit, a graduate of Kent Col- 
lege of Law ; Emery S. Elliott ; Jessie Elliott ; 
and Birdie Leon Elliott." 

Mr. Elliott's ability as an orator has com- 
manded wide recognition : During the year 1901 
h.c delivered four orations, each of which has re- 



ceived glowing enconiums. His oration on John 
Marshall was regarded' as one of the best de- 
livered during the John Marshall memorial cele- 
bration. His oration on George Washington, de- 
livered before the Bohemian Club of Chicago, was 
worthy of his subject and brought him merited 
distinction. That on John Eliot, the Indian 
aix)stle, delivered at South Natick, Boston, July 
3, 1901, upon the occasion of the two hundred 
a'-d fiftieth anniversary of the founding there of 
Eliot's village of praying Inilians, has given him 
a national reputation, while that ileli\'ered by him 
at Lincoln Park, October 12, at the unveiling of 
the statue of Ciaribakli, has received international 
mention. 

Mr. Elliott is one of Chicago's most popular 
after-dinner speakers, and ne\'er fails to provoke 
the admiration and applause of those who are 
fnrtunate enough to be guests at the tables where 
he is listed as a post prandial orator. 

Ujion May 6, 1902, Mr. Elliott was nom- 
inated unanimously liy the Cook county Repub- 
lican convention for the position of judge of the 
superior court of cook county, to be voted for at 
the November election of 1902. No other nom- 
ination of recent years has given the people 
g'reater satisfaction than this : it is believed he 
will be elected bv a large majoritv. 



HON. SAM BRONSON COOPER 

BEAUMONT, TEXAS 



Hon. Sam B. Cooper, member of congress 
from the second district of Texas, was born May 
30, 1850, in Caklwell county, Kentucky, and is 
a son of Archibaldl Hunter and Elizabeth 
(Frazer) Cooper. He removed with his parents 
to Texas the same year and located in Woud- 
ville, Tyler county, where he resided until 1898; 
his father died in 1852; his education was re- 
ceived at the common school of the town : at 
sixteen years of age began clerking in a gen- 



eral store; in 1871 read law in the office of Nicks 
& Hobby; in January, 1872, obtained a license to 
practice law, and became a partner in the firm of 
Nicks, Hobby & Cooper; was married in 1873. 
In 1876 was elected comity attorney of Tyler 
county; was re-elected in 1878; in 1880 was 
elected to the state senate fmm the first 
senatorial district; was re-elected in 1882, and! 
at the close of the session of the eighteenth legis- 
lature was elected president pro tempore of the 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



i8i 



senate: in 18S5 was appointed cnllectnr of in- Knight of Pythias, Elk, Eagle, Hoc Hoo, etc., 

ttrnal revenue of the first district of Texas by a Democrat in political matters and in religious 

President Cleveland ; was elected to the fifty- matters a Methodist. 

third, fifty-fourth, fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth cou- He was married in 1873 to Miss Phebe 

gresses and re-elected to the fifty-seventh con- Young, and they have four children living, S. B. 

gress. Cooper, Jr., three daughters, Willie Chapman, 

YiT. Cooper is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, Margaret Helena and Bird Bower Ctjoper. 



FRANK R. CAIN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



From the Ijeginning of his career as a legal 
practitioner Mr. l-^^ank R. Cain's efforts have 
been attended with success. A natural lawyer, he 
is thoroughly skilled in the science which he 
practices, while his courteous, affable manner 
renders him a general favorite 
among his business associates as 
\vell as among his frientls. 

]<"rank R. Cain was born at 
Dubuque. Iowa. September 3, 
1867. and is an son of Absolom 
and Caroline Cain. His early 
education was acquired at Du- 
lnu|ue at the public schools, gram- 
mar and high school. He came 
to Chicago in 1885 and entered an insurance 
office. Then studied at Chicago College of Law, 




receiving diploma from Lake Forrest University 
in 1 89 1, and has practiced since that date, being 
assLciated with Mr. A. S. Trude since 1895. 
From 1893 to 1895 he was assistant city attorney 
and was a candidate for the legislature in 1896. 
He is a member of the Garden City Lodge, A. F. 
& A. M., since 1889, and a member of Fairview 
Chapter, R. A. M., since 1890. Mr. Cain has 
traveled extensively in America. Politically he 
is a Democrat. He has l)een attorney for 
the Chicago Tribune for over three years. 

Mr. Cain .stfands well at the Chicago bar, 
where his earnestness of character and force give 
him a strong influence. He is a member of 
several organizations and clubs. The social 
qualities of his nature have won him many 
friends. 



HON. JAMES MCLACHLAN, M. C. 

PASADENA, CAL. 

Hon. James McLachlan, member of congress, energy ; and it is but a natural sequence that he 

of Pasadena, California, is a lawyer and diplomat, should early attain prominence in public life, 

a man of strong mentality, scholarly tastes and James McLachlan probably owes nnich of his 

breadth of thought, and is by nature well pre- success to his sturdy Scotch ancestry, as he was 

pared to deal with the problems of the law or born in Argyllshire. Scotland, in i85_>: at the age 

the intricate questions of state. Activity in pub- of three years he removed with his parents, 

lie affairs and a strong political bias are inevitable James McLachlan and Jean (McKellar) Mc- 

in a man of such characteristics and indomitable Lachlan, to Tompkins county. New \ork, where 



I82 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



lie was reared uii a farm ami educated in the pub- 
lic schools. He cammeuced teaching" in the pub- 
lic schools at sixteen and while engaged in that 
work prepared himself for college. He gradu- 
ated from Hamilton College, New York, in the 
class of 1878. He was admitted to the practice 
of law in the supreme court of New York in 
1880, and commenced the practice of his pro- 
fession in 1881 at Ithaca, New York, where he 
remained until 1888, when he removed to Pasa- 
dena, California, and there continued the practice 
of his profession. In 1877 he was elected on the 
Republican ticket tO' the office of school commis- 
sioner of Tompkins covmty, New York, and in 
1890 was elected district attorney of Los. Angeles 



county, California, which position lie held until 
1893. He was elected representative to congress 
from the sixth district, California, in the fifty- 
fourth and fifty-seventh congresses. 

Mr. McLachlan is a stalwart Republican, a 
leader in pulitical circles in southern California; 
he is a man of ability in his profession, a fine 
orator, and is alsO' active and influential in re- 
ligious work. He belongs to the Masonic order, 
is a Knight of Pythias, Elk and since his college 
days a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. 

Mr. McLachlan was married in December, 
1887, to Miss Minnie J. Jones, and they have four 
children, Anita Jean, Gladys Katharine, Marjorie 
Janet and James Douglas. 



JOHN BRACKETT LORD 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



John Brackett Lord, president and manager 
of the Ayer & Lord Tie Company, is a man of 
high business abilities and integrity of purpose. 
He has won a noted place in the business world. 
John Brackett Lord was Ixirn at Newton, Upper 
Falls, Massachusetts, June 5, 1848, and is a de- 
scendant on both his father's and mother's sides 
from prominent colonial families. 

Mr. Lord's paternal granilfather, Wentworth 
Lord, was an early resitlent of the state of Maine, 
but went from Augusta, Alaine, to South 
Tamoorth, New Hampshire, while still a young 
man. His son, Brackett Lord, the father of Mr. 
Lord was born there, but afterward moved to 
Newton, Upper Falls, Massachusetts, where he 
met and married Miss Clarasa Williams \\'ins- 
low, a direct descendant from Knelham \\"inslow. 
a brother of Governor Edward Winslow, of Mas- 
sachusetts. 

Mr. Lord was eclucatetl in^ the schools at 
Newton, Massachusetts, and at the Wesleyan 
Academy at Wilbraham, in the same state, at 



which institution he remained until 1867, when 
he gave up his studies in order to assist his fa- 
ther in the grain and flour business at Newton. 
Here he continued to be actively engaged until 
1872. 

At this time he came west to Kansas, Illi- 
nois, where his father owned a large grain ware- 
house, which he offered to give his son on con- 
rlition that he would settle there and build up a 
business. 

After a trial of a few years, Mr. Lord !>e- 
came convinced that there was not enough busi- 
ness at this point to warrant his remaining 
there any longer, and accordingly, in 1875, he 
ceased to confine his efforts to this limited terri- 
tory, and becaiue a general buyer and shipper of 
grain throughout the entire central section of the 
state, continuing as such until 1882. In that 
year he became connected with Mr. C. W. Powell, 
a retired crosstie contractor, establishing the finn 
of Powell & Lord, with headquarters at Paris, 111. 

Two vears later the firm removed to Chica- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



1S5 



go, where it carried on a prosperous business in 
railroad lumber supplies until its dissolution in 
1893. I\Ir. Lord then associated himself with 
Mr. Edward E. Aver and organized the Ayer & 
Lord Tie Company, of which he became president 
and manager. This new association added very 
materially to the business, so that at the present 
time the firm is doubtless the largest oak tie deal- 
ers in the United States. 

« 

The connection with ^Ir. Ayer has also 
proved a particularly happy and profitable one, 
Mr. Ayer having had an extensive experience in 
the cedar business, which, coanbined with Mr. 
Lord's experience in oak ties, resulted in building 



u\) the great oak tie business the firm now en- 
joys. 

^Ir. Li>rd is a member uf many social organi- 
zations ; he belongs to the Chicago, Union 
League, Kenwood and Midlothian Clubs, and is 
a stanch supporter of the Republican party. 

Li 1874 he married Miss Anna E. Steele, of 
Grand View, Edgar county, Illinois, daughter of 
Dr. James M. Steele, a prominent physician of 
th.at part of the state of Illinois. Mr. Lord is 
everywhere known as possessing the highest in- 
tegrity, while his courteous afifable manner ren- 
ders him a general favorite among his business as- 
sociates, as well as among his numerous friends. 



HON. JOSEPH BURNS CROWLEY 

ROBINSON, ILL. 



Joseph B. Crowlew memlier of congress, 
treasury agent of Alaska, judg'e and lawyer, is a 
man of high character and great executive abil- 
ity. His political career has been alike able and 
honorable. He has always been an earnest advo- 
cate of Democratic principles, and has delivered 
many campaign addresses, in which his logical 
arguments, entertainingly presented, have carried 
conviction to the minds of his hearers. He is 
tireless in his advocacv of Democratic measures, 
for his belief arises from an honest conviction 
that the welfare of the nation can best be con- 
served through this political channel. 

Joseph B. CrOAvley was born at Coshocton, 
Ohio, July 19, 1858, and is a son of Samuel 
Burns and Elizabeth (Williams) Crowley. 

In 1859 his parents moved to Ste. Marie, 
Jaster county, Illinois ; thence to Newton, Illi- 
nois, in 1868. and thence to Robinson in 1872. 

Joseph's education was received in the com- 
m.on schools of Illinois. At an early age he car- 
ried the mails between Robinson and Lancaster, 

on horseback, a distance of forty miles. He stud- 

11* 



ied law under many difficulties, and was admitted 
to the bar in 1883. Then formed a partnership 
with Hon. George N. Parker. Was elected 
county judge of Crawford county in 1886, re- 
elected in 1890 and resigned in 1893 to accept 
the position of United States special treasury 
agent in charge of the seal fisheries of Alaska. 
He resigned this position in April, 1898, to ac- 
cept the nomination tO' congress. Served two 
terms as president of the Robinson city school 
board, and two terms as master in chancery of 
his cotmty. Served three terms as member of 
the Democratic congressional committee of his 
district, and twelve years as a member of the 
Democratic county central committee of Craw- 
ford county ; was elected to' the fifty-sixth and re- 
elected tO' the fifty-seventh congress of the nine- 
teenth district of the state of Illinois. 

Mr. Crowley's reports upon pelagic sealing 
while holding the position of United States si^ecial 
treasury agent in Alaska were considered xevy 
able state papers and were instrumental in having 
the seal question reopened and steps were taken 



1 86 



FROMIXENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



toward revising the results of the Paris Arbitra- 
tion of 1891--'. for which an international com- 
mission was appointed. Upr)n his recommenda- 
tion many changes in the local administration of 
affairs of the Seal Islands were instituted. Mr. 
Crowley performed the duties of this office in a 
manner highly creditable to himself and to the 



satisfactii.in of the government. Judge Crowley 
is a member of the Masonic order. Odd Fellows, 
Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen, Modern 
Americans and the Elks. In religious matters he 
is a Presbyterian. He was married in 1888 to 
Miss Alice Newlin. They have one child, a 
daughter, Emily Josephine Crowley. 



SAMUEL J. KLINE 

CHICAGO ILL. 



Samuel J. Kline, one of the well-known firm 
of Joseph Beifield & Company, of Chicago, was 
born at Lea\enworth. Kansas. July 19. 1859. 
His ])arcnts moved to Denver. Colorado, in i860, 
and again U< Chicago in 1871. Mr. Kline was 
educated in the public schools at 
Denver and in Chicago, leaving 
school in 1872. before attaining 
his thirteentli year. In 1883 he 
entered the employ of Joseph 
I'eificld & Company, becoming a 
partner January i, 18S9. Air. 
Kline is a man of great activity. 
He is president of the Chicago 
Credit Men's Association, a 
directiir df the National Associ- 
ation of Merchants and Travelers, a trustee of 




Dr. Hirsch's congregation (Sinai), ex-treasurer 
(if the Hamilton Club and a member of the Ham- 
ilton and Standard Clubs and of the A. F. &. 
A. M. Mr. Kline is a Kepublican. and is a rep- 
resentative citizen of Chicago. His remark- 
ably successful career would satisfy the ambi- 
tiiin of almost anv man. It has l:)een achieved 
by untiring devotion to business and abilitx' 
to seize (.>ppiirimiities and make the most of 
til em. 

Mr. Kline was married in December, 1884, to 
]\Iiss Judith Felsenthal, daughter of the late Her- 
man Felsenthal, a well-known citizen of Chicago 
and after whom is named the Felsenthal School 
at the corner of Calumet and Forty-first street. 
They have one son, Eugene, a graduate of the 
A [organ Park Academy. 



S. V. KEMPER 

BUTTE CITY, MONT. 

S. y. Kemper, one of Butte City's en- German origin, and may be traced back two hun- 

terprising and successful men. has by his i^wn dred and sixty-nine years h> Johanii Keni])er. of 

jiluck and energy won his way to the front. He Musen. a village near Siegen, in the province of 

is truly a self-made man, and is eminently de- \\'estphalia, alMut sixty miles southeast of 

serving of some personal mention in this Cologne, in Germany. Some of them settled in 

wi rk. S. \'. Kaiuper was liorn in St. Joseph, Fauquier county. Virginia, al30Ut the year T714. 

Missouri. June 21. 1855. His ancestors were of Thev were substantial ]>lanters. Several of the 



PRO.MIXENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



187 



family participated in the Re\i)lutiiuiai"_\- war. and 
one of tliem subsequently became governor of 
Virginia. Grandfather William Kemper was born 
in Virginia, and was there married to a Miss 
Rogers, of Scotch descent. They rem(j\-ed to 
Kentucky at an early day and were among the 
pioneer planters of that state. He was a Baptist 
of the strictest kind, lived an honorable and up- 
right life, and died at the advanced age of eighty- 
four years. He and his good wife reared a family 
of eleven children, of whom Thonipsoii Kemper, 
the father of our subject, was born in Kentucky 
in 1806. Thomson Kemper was married in Vir- 
ginia in 1845 to Miss Lucy Ann Smiley, a nati\e 
of Xelson count}-, that state. Her people had 
long been residents of the Old Dominii>n, her fa- 
ther being of Irish descent and her mother of 
Scotch. Thomson Kemper and his wife had 
three sons and a daughter, and all the sons, James 
\y., Edward W. and Simeon Vandex'enter, are 
now residents of Butte City. The mother has 
been a Methodist from her girlhood days. Some 
time after marriage the father joined the same 
church, of which he remained a consistent mem- 
ber the rest of his life, tilling various official po- 
sitions, such as class-leader, Sunday-school super- 
intendent, etc. Early in his life he had been a 
teacher. In 1871 he came with his family to 
Montana, where he resided until the time of his 
death in 1891. The mother is still living, now in 
her seventy-fourth year. 

S. \'. Kemper received very limited educa- 
tional advantages in his youth, but has all his life 
been a student and has acquired a broad knowl- 
edge of men and affairs. He has cnllected a \alu- 
able library, and e\-en now takes delight in be- 
longing to a .select literary club. While he is well 
posted on general topics, he has made a specialty 
of mathematics, ethics and the phildsophy of 
theology. He has led an exemplary life and takes 
])ri(le in his reputatiim as a man of good moral 
character. 

I\Tr. Kemper was sixteen at the time his father 



moved to Alontana. They came b}- rail to Cor- 
rinne and thence by wagon to Radersburg, near 
which they took claim to a tract of land, and tried 
hard for ti\-e years to make a living by farming. 
It was up-hill work, however, for the grasshop- 
pers destr(jyed their crops for three years, and 
they were at their wits' end to know what was 
best to do-. S. V. Kemper worked out for wages, 
shearing sheep, mining and doing carpenter work ; 
but there was not much money in this, and lie was 
on the alert for something better. 

About this time the subject of this sketch be- 
came convinced that Butte City !iad in store for 
it an era of great prosperity, and he accordingly 
came hither in 1877 and purchased forty acres of 
land near the town and started a market garden. 
Soon the rest of the family joined him here, and 
they carried on the business quite successfully 
for five years. The smoke from many smelters 
of the town interfered with their industry, and 
the rapid growth of the place induced them to 
subdivide their land and put it on the market as 
the Kemper Addition. From this start he 
launched out extensively into the real-estate busi- 
ness, rapidly actjuired property and soon took 
rank with the most enterprising and irifluential 
men (if the city. Later, in partnership with ]\Ir. 
Lawldr, he ])latteil the Lawlor & Kemper Addi- 
tion Mil the west side of the city. They paid 
se\enteen tlmusand dollars for eight acres, and 
the first year sold enough lots to pay for the 
whole tract and still had thirty thousand dollars 
worth of property left. He and his brother had 
the good fortune tO' locate the famous Ground 
Sfpiirrcl mine, which they subsequenth- sold for 
two hundred and thirty thousand dollars. 

In 1889 Mr. Kemper took an active part in 
the organization of the Citizens' Building and 
Loan Association, the first association of the kind 
in the cit}', and is now secretary of the State 
League of Local Building and Loan .\ssociations 
and a member of the executive committee of tlie 
I'nited States League of Building and Loan As- 



1 88 



PROMIXEXT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



sociations. In 1891 he was active in securing the 
organization of the State Savings Bank of Butte 
City, in which institution he is a stockholder and 
director. In 1892 he organized the Brownfield- 
Canty Carpet Company, whicli does a large 
wholesale and retail car[)et trade in Butte City. 
Mr. Kemper is president of this company. Since 
1891, however, lie has been practically retired 
from active business. He still has large holdings 
in Butte City, among which is the business block 
adjoining the library building and numerous resi- 
dences in various parts of the city. He is one of 



the owners of tiie Silver Bow raisin vineyard in 
Tulare county, California, and is secretary of 
this company. 

Mr. Kenii)er was married November 19, 
1890, to Miss . Sallie B. Shields, of Highland, 
Kansas, and they have children as follows : Will- 
iam Arthur, Mary Blain, Sarah Virginia and 
Helen Elizalieth. Mrs. Kemper is a meml)er of 
the Presbyterian church. The family residence 
is on West Copper street, in the Lawlor & Kem- 
per Addition, one of the beautiful residence ix)r- 
tions of the citv. 



HARVEY B. HURD 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Mr. Harvey B. Hurd has been actively con- 
nected with Chicago and its interests since 1847. 
He resides at Evanston, one of Chicago's most 
beautiful suburbs. He was born at Huntington, 
Fairfield county, Connecticut, February 14, 1828, 
and is a son of Alanson Hurd, who was of En- 
glish descent, while his mother was of Dutch- 
Irish ancestry. 

.Mr. Hurd is a striking example of the self- 
made man. He worked upon hi.s father's farm 
and attended winter school until fifteen years of 
age, when he left home, walked to Bridgeport, 
Connecticut, and found employment in the office 
of the Bridgeport Standard, a newsi>aper, remain- 
ing two years, when with ten other young men he 
jfjurneyed to Peoria, Illinois, and entered Jubilee 
College; remained a year and then came to Chi- 
cago, by stage, finding employment in the office 
of the Evening Journal, Wilson & Geer, proprie- 
tors ; later was employed in the office of the 
Prairie Farmer, and in 1847 hegan the study of 
law in the office of Calvin De Wolf, being ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1848. His first law partner 
was Carlos Haven, afterward state's attorney. 
His next partner was Henry Snapp, afterward 



congressman from Joliet district. From 1850 to 
1854 he practiced in partnership with A. J. Brown 
and the firm handled large transactions in real 
estate and were owners of twrt hundred and forty- 
eight acres of land, which they subdivided as part 
of Evanston. Mr. Hurd was the first builder in 
that suburb. He put up his present home in 
1854-5. which at that time occupied a block of 
ground. It is one of the finest homes in Evans- 
ton. Mr. Hurd was the first president of the vil- 
lage board. He was an ardent alxjlitionist 
and took an active part in the stormy events 
that occurred in Chicago before and after the re- 
peal of the Missouri Compromise. In 1862 he 
formed a ])artnership with Hon. Henry Booth, 
who hel])ed organize the Law Department of the 
University of Chicago, and of which he was dean. 
Mr. Hurd accepted the position of lecturer in this 
college. The law firm was dissolved in 1S68, 
Mr. Hurd retiring from active practice. In 1869 
Governor Palmer appointed him one of three 
commissioners to revise and rewrite the general 
statutes of the state of Illinois. His colleagues 
soon withdrew and Mr. Hurd did the work, which 
was enormous. He had not only to compile into 





Q JA^JL_ 



PROMIXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



191 



one homeogeneous wliole tlie x'arious laws wliich 
from time to time had been enacted by the bien- 
nial meeting of the legislature, but to adapt them 
to the new state constitution of 1870. He has 
l>cen called upon tO' edit many editions of the 
work since. 

In 1870 he was elected to a chair in the law 
school which had now beci:>me the Union College 
of Law. of the L'niversity of Chicago and the 
Northwestern Unix ersity. He was nominated by 
the Republicans for judge of the superior court in 
1875. He was one of the six selected tO' fill the 
vacancy in the board of county commissioners of 
Cook county, created by the con\'iction of mem- 
bers of that board for defrauding the coun- 
ty. He has the credit ijf being the father 
of the new^ drainage system of Chicago, "which 
resulted in the building of the great drainage 
canal." l)eing author of the plan creating a mu- 
nicipal district of the citv of Chicagcj. the Chi- 
cago sanitary district, and leading the mo\e- 
ment which resulted in its adoption. He drew 
the first bill presented to tlie legislature in iSSo 
l)y tlie Hering commission, known as the "Hurd 
I'ill." and which resulted in a legislative com- 
mission tO' inyestigate the subject, and the sub- 
mitting by them to the legislature in 1887 of a 
bill which, although it differed in some respects 
from the original "Hurd Inll." was in the main 
the same, and was supported before the legisla- 
ture by yir. Hnrd and Ins friends, and was adopt- 



ed in Xovember. 1887. by the alnnjst unanimous 
^•ote of the ]>eople. 

^Ir. Hurd was for years at the head of the 
committee of law reform of the Illinois State Bar 
Association. He has alwa}-s been yery charitaljly 
inclined, and among other charities has been much 
interested and has supported the Children's Aid 
Society of Chicago, the work of this society Ijeing 
the seeking otit of homeless children and placing 
them in family homes. He has taken a deep in- 
terest in the Conference of Charities of Illinois, 
an organization of all charitable societies, and was 
president at one time of both of these societies. 

Mr. Hurd was first married in May, 1853, to 
]\Iiss Cornelia A. Hillard, daughter of the late 
Captain James Hillard. of Aliddletown, Connecti- 
cut, and by this marriage had three children : 
Eda, wife of George S. Lord ; Hettie, who died 
in 1884: and Xellie. wife of John A. Comstock. 
Xo\eml)er 1. i860, ]Mr. Hurd married Sarah., 
widow of the late George Collins: she died in 
January. 1890. In July. 1891. he married Miss 
Susannah ]\I. Wan \\'_\ck. a lady highly esteemed 
in Evanston social circles. 

Mr. Hurd is one of the great lawyers of Illi- 
nois : a man of wonderful ability and highly edu- 
cated, a great reader, a graceful author and orator 
and a gentleman of the old school : polite and re- 
fined in his manners, temperate in his habits, 
moral and religious in his life and oi the most un- 
blennshed integrity. 



HON. JOHN F. LACEY 

OSKALOOSA, IOWA 

Hon. John F. Lacev. member of congress and academic education : enlisted in Company H, 

from the sixth district of Iowa, was born at Xew Third Iowa Infantry, in May. iSbi, and after- 

Mnrtinsville, \'a. (now West \'irginia). ]May wards served as a private in Company D. Thirty- 

30. 1841 ; be is a son of John Mills Lacey and third Iowa Infantry, as sergeant-major, and as 

Eleanor Patten Lacev. The family removed to lieutenant in Company C. of that regiment: was 

Iowa in 1855. where he received a common-school promoted to assistant adjutant-general on the 



ig: 



PROMIXEXT :\1EX OF THE GREAT WEST 



staff of Lirig. Gen. Samuel A. Rice, and after thai 
officer was killed in battle was assigned tu duty 
on the staff of ^laj. Gen. Frederick Steele; served 
in the Iowa legislature one term, in 1870; was 
temporary chairman of Iowa Republican con- 
vention in 1898; served one term in city council; 
one term as city solicitor of Oskaloosa : is a law - 
yer and author of Lace_\ 's Railway Digest and 
Lacey's Iowa Digest; was a member of the fifty- 
first, fiftv-third, fiftv-fourth, fiftv-fifth. and fiftv- 



sixth ci-'ngresses, and re-elected to the fifty-se\-- 
enth congress. 

He has traveled extensiveh' in Europe and 
America. Politically is a Republican and one 
of the leaders of his party in his state. Mr. 
Lacey was married September 19, 1865. to ^liss 
Alartha J- Xewell. They have had four children, 
of whom two are living: Mrs. Eleanor Lacey 
Brewster, wife nf J. B. Brewster; and Bernice 
Lacev Sawver, wife of Carroll E. Sawver. 



JESSE AUSTIN DUNN, D. D. S. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 
One of the best-known dentists in Chicago, cago in 1884, and after taking a post-graduate 



J. Austin Dunn, came to the cit}- in 1884. His 
reputation has steadily increased until he has im- 
pressed his individuality and ability upon tlic 
public mind. Before he had completed his lit- 
erarv education he determined to 



course in the Cliicago College of Dental Surgerv, 
resumed the practice of his profession which has 
gradually developed into the present full and 
successful one. 

The career of Dr. Dunn has been marked w ith 
devote his life to the profession the holding of many positions of trust and help- 
of dentistry, and the careful pur- fulness incident to the development of his pro- 
suit of a well-defined purpose has fession as a whole. He has contributed, more or 
brought him his present prestige, less, to its current literature and text-books. He 
J. Austin Dunn was born at has also contributed various mechanical appli- 
Hinkley, Medina county, Ohio, ances, notably the Dunn Syringe, which is used 
June 29, 185 1. His parents and known the world over. He has recently suc- 
were George ^^^ Dunn, born at ceeded in overcoming the objections to bulb 
Lyons, Xew York, and Fanny syringes, making an improvement which is unicpie 
(Damon) Dunn, l)orn at Chesterfield, Alassachu- and simple, and meets the requirements of anti- 
setts. He w^as educated i'.i the public schools of ceptic surgery of the times, and is acknowledged 
Medina and Columbus. ( )hio. his parents having by professional men to be a decided improvenient 
moved to the latter place at the close of the war and advance in surgical appliances. It has also 
in 1865. After leaxing school he took up the been endorsed and is in use by the medical de- 
study of dentistry with his father. He began the partments of the army and na\'y of the Cnited 
practice of his profession in 1870, continuing States. 

successfully until 1877, when he was obliged to Dr. Dunn was the third president of the 

give up active practice on acc<iunt of failing Odontographic Society of Chicago, the largest 
health, going south for a time. In 1879 he re- organization of its kind in the world. He is a 
turned to Cincinnati, where he remained until member of the Xational Dental .\ssociation, the 
his health was lullv restored. He came to Chi- American Medical .Vssnciatinn, the Illimiis State 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



193 



Dental Society, the Chicago Dental Society; and Wilson and Hayes and Wheeler in 1872 and 

is also a member nf the Supreme Chapter, Delta 1876. 

Sig"ma Delta. Among the clubs, he is a meml>er He is a man of pleasing personality. Though 

of the Ohio Society of Chicago and the Hamilton ninst widely known in professional circles, his 

Clul). Dr. Dunn is a memlier of the I'resbyterian genial manner has won him a host of friends, 

church, and has always, as a citizen, taken an Dr. Dunn was married at Columbus, Ohio, 

active interest in political and public affairs. He September 4, 1871, to Miss Alice L. Cooke, 

is an earnest worker in the Republican ranks, and daughter of Mrs. Ellen M. Cooke, one of the pio- 

took an active part in the campaigns of Grant and neers of central Ohio. 



FRANK PAYSON SAWYER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Possessed oi those sterling characteristics 
which tk> su much to make up a successful man, 
there are few men in the country higher esteemed 
and more trusted b)- his business associates than 
the subject of this sketch. When the Great West- 
ern Cereal Company was formed there was a gen- 
eral demand by the gentlemen representing the 
\"ast interests invcih-ed in the consnhdation, that 
Frank P. Sawyer assume the presidency and take 
the management of the business. Upon his re- 
fusal to accept in a way rested the successful 
formation of the company, and, being given abso- 
lute control of the business, he accepted, and in 
an almost incredibly short time has demonstrated 
his great worth and the wisdom of the dunce 
made in his selection. 

Mr. Sawyer was born at Hamilton, Ontario', 
where his father was engaged in business, No- 
VLMuber 30, i^z,(\ He is of Scotch-Irish de.sceut. 
his earliest ancestors coming to America from 
Scotland in the se\-enteenth century and settling 
in Richfield, New Hampshire. He is a son of 
S. P. Sawyer, now living, at the age of nearly 
eighty years, at Muscatine, Iowa, and Frances 
Gillett-Sawyer. The elder Sawyer went to Ham- 
ilton in 1850, to learn the trade of manufacturing 
agricultural im])!ements, in the factory of his 



uncle, who had estaijlished the business in 1S36 
This factory is now what is known as the Saw- 
}er-Massey Company, and is one of the largest 
of its kind in the ci;>untry. His father re- 
moved to Muscatine in 1871, and it was here 
that the subject of this sketch spent the most of 
his life. 

It was in the pujjlic schools of Hamilton 
and at the Collegiate Institute at that jilace that 
Mr. Sawyer received his early education. He 
graduated from the university at Iowa City, and 
after serving two years at marble-cutting he went 
into business for himself, dealing in mantels, 
grates and nioniunents, at Des Moines. At the end 
of two years he retired from his business to take 
charge of the aft"airs of the ^Muscatine (Iowa) 
Oatmeal Company. He applied a \-igorous, pro- 
gressix'e management, and inside of a short time 
he had built up the business to an encouraging 
extent. When Mr. Sawyer took charge the out- 
put was sevent\-fi\e liarrels a day, and this in- 
creased to seven hundred barrels a day, and most 
of this was case goods in two-pound packages. 
The principal product was called "Friends Oats," 
antl this iood stuff is known all over the country. 
In April, 1901. when the Great W'estern Cereal 
Company was formed, there was a general desire 



194 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



on the part of those interested that Mr. Sawyer 
take charge of the Inisiness of the company. It 
is composed of ten of the largest oatmeal mills in 
the United States, and the capital stock is four 
million five hundred thousand dollars. There are 
over fifteen hundred men employed, and the cut- 
put is two million cases annually. Besides being 
president of the Great Western Cereal Company, 
Mr. Sawyer is a director of the Eirst National 



Bank of Muscatine, Iowa, and also a director of 
the Muscatine Savings Bank. He was until re- 
cently treasurer of the ^Muscatine Water Works 
Company. He is a member of the Commercial 
Club, of Muscatine. 

In 1881 Mr. Sawyer was happily married to 
J(.anna Wells, of Milford, Pike county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and they have three children, Henry P., 
Aura M. and Maud W. Sawver. 



THOMAS LORD 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Air. Thomas Lord, one of the representative 
business men of Chicago, and one of the pioneers 
in the state, who, although he has reached the 
psalmist's span of three score years and ten, is 
still actively engaged in business. The energy 
and enterprise with which he prosecutes it sets to 
shame many a younger man who, grown weary 
of the strife, shrinks from further contact with it. 
He acquired his education in his native state and 
spent his youth in the east. He came to Chicago 
in 1857, to take his place among those who were 
contending for the rich prizes then offered the 
ambitious, energetic and honorable men in the 
future metropolis of the west. To-day he stands 
at the head of the great wholesale drug house of 
Lord, Owen & Company, which, founded on a 
modest scale, now has an annual volume of busi- 
ness considerably in excess of a million dollars 
and covers the entire extent of the western and 
northern states. 

The sterling qualities of Mr. Lord's char- 
acter are easily understood when it is known that 
he is descended from a long line of sturdy and 
honorable New England ancestry, and in both 
the lineal and collateral branches representatives 
have 1)een prominent in the nation, the family 
identification with the American colonies dating 
back to the tiiue of Thomas Lord, who settled at 



Hartford, Connecticut, in the year 1O30. The 
family fiourished and to(jk firm root in Connecti- 
cut soil, one representative, the Re\'. Benjamin 
Lord, having been pastor of the same church in 
the town of Norwich for sixty-seven years. This 
clergyman was also prominent in educational 
afl'airs. ha\ing at one time served as chairman of 
the board of trustees of America's famous insti- 
tution, Yale College. His wife, Mable Holland 
(Hendon) Lord, whose genealogy is traceable 
back through English royalty to \\lilliam the 
Concjueror, and still further back until the line is 
finally lost in the dim historic twilighfsome three 
hundred and thirty years B. C. This distin- 
guished couple were the great-great-grandparents 
of the present Thomas Lord, who can trace a line 
of progenitors comprising seventy generations. 

The Rev. Dr. Willis Lord, professor in the 
'McCormack Theological Seminary, and founder 
of Eullerton Avenue Presbyterian church at 
Fullerton avenue, is also one of ]Mr. Lord's an- 
cestors, and bi;th the paternal and maternal 
grandfathers of Air. Lord were Revolutionary 
patriots, the former having been a non-commis- 
sioned officer in the army and the latter a ship- 
master in the navy. 

Thomas Lord was born in Newark, New 
Tcrsev, Fel>ruary 9. 1824. and was the son of 




Trie CentopyPubliabinQtEnormttng CaChga 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



197 



Jusluia and Sally (Hawley) Lurd. His father 
was a man of strong personality and great ability. 
He was a mechanic, merchant and county com- 
missioner, and alth(Aigh he never practiced law, 
^\•as made a municipal judge, and ne\-er once 
<:luring his term oi otifice had a decision of his 
court reversed by a higher tribunaJ. He had 
great aptitude for oiticial work, was of the strict- 
est moral integrity and his sense of justice for 
others was as rigid as his rule of rectitude for 
himself. He turned, more funds intu the puljjic 
treasury during his term of office, through fines, 
than had ever been received by it during the 
whole previous history of the town. He was a 
man of broad culture and literary tastes, and gave 
his children the best educational ad\'antages, so 
that his S(_in Thomas received a .sound funda- 
mental education, and at Bridgeport, Connecticut, 
in 1839 began the study of the drug business, in 
which he has now been identified for over si.xty 
years. He came west in 1857, and founded the 
drug enterprise over which he still presides as 
the head of the firm of Lord, Owen & Company, 
and which is the direct successor of one of the 
very oldest wholesale drug houses in the city. 
L. M. Boyce, the pioneer of the parent-house, was 
engaged in the business at Ni.>. 121 Lake street 
as early as 1836. He was a prominent merchant 
for many years, and at his death, in 1849, ^^'''^ 
succeeded in business Ijy two of his clerks, Edwin 
R. Bay and John Sears, Jr., which they carried on 
at No. 113 Lake street for three years. Li 1852 
the firm was moved to No. 139 Lake street 
and carried on under the name of Bay & Bald- 
\\in. On the arrival of Mr. Lord in Cliicago in 
1857 this house was bought nut by him, he C(.vn- 
<lucting it alone for two years, but in 1859 formed 
a partnership with Dr. Lafayette H. Smith, un- 
der the name of Lord & Smith. From No. 139 
Lake street the business was moved to No. 43, 
and five }'cars later to No. 23, of the saiue thor- 
oughfare. Tn 1868 it was moved to No. 86 Wa- 
bash a\-enue, \\liere a handsrimc five-storv build- 



ing with stone front was erected by the firm. 
About this time G. W. Stoutenburgh was ad- 
mitted into partnership, the firm name becom- 
ing Lord, Smith & Company. This firm was 
burned out in the great Chicago fire, sustain- 
ing losses amounting to one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars. It immediately resinned 
ciperations in temix:>rary cjuarters in the old 
Dearborn park, beginning at the same time 
to rebuild the old site. The new building, 
si.x stories in height, of brick and stone, was 
finished and occupied in the spring of 1872. 
In 1876 Dr. Smith disposed of his interest in the 
business to his partners and retired, while two 
new members were admitted, George S. Lord 
and James R. Owen. The new firm, Lord, Stout- 
enburgh & Company throve mightily, and in 1880 
it was found necessary to find more commodious 
(juarters and a removal was made tO' Nos. 72 and 
74 Wabash avenue. Here six spacious floors, 
with an area of fift}- tliousand square feet, were 
occupied and over one hundred persons employed. 
In 1S84 Mr. Stoutenburgh withdrew, and the 
present style of Lord, Owen & Company was as- 
sumed. The firm now occupy quarters in their 
handsome new building, Nos. 233, 235 and 2^j 
East Randolph street. 

]\lr. Lord has been twice married; the first 
time to Jennie E. Wicks in 1847. S'^^ ^^''^^ the 
daughter of Jonas and Sarah Wicks, of Albany, 
New York ; and the last marriage was to Miss 
Cornelia Smith, of Woodbury, Connecticut. One 
son, George S. Lord, a member of the firm, is 
the only- child of the first alliance. Of the last 
tliere are fotu" children — Katharine M., Cornelia 
F., wife of E. W. .\brams, of Chester, Illinois; 
Benjamin W. Lord, president and manager of the 
Chicago \'eneer Company; and .\nnie W. Lord. 

There are few, if any, older druggists in Chi- 
cago than Mr. Lord. He occupies a conspicuous 
position among the luisiness men of the city, but 
his influence is felt not alone in that wav, for he 
stands high in public esteem in church work, and 



198 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



hi^ opinion is sought in i>hilanthni[)ic questions. of liunianity ; a philosoplier. an al)le speaker, and. 

He is interested from a Immanitarian standi)oint above all. a friend to humanity. A devoted 

in the questions which effect the welfare of the churchman, he gives liberally of his strength and 

race, from the standpoint of a scholar in those mtans toward this work. His tender devotion to 

things which concern the mental development and the home circle is ideal, and his thoughtfulness in 

show the trend of intellectual advancement of the all his relations in life proverbial ; a life of such 

age. He studies the issues that rise, not in an sterling worth that it has become a beneficent 

abstract sense, Ijut in their relation to the welfare ft rce in the communitv. 



EDWIN WALKER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



During his long and honorable career at the 
bar Edwin Walker has met in professional con- 
tests many prominent lawyers in the state. As a 
corporation lawyer he stands high. A complete 
record of his legal services would be little less 
than a transcript of most of the famous cases 
that have been determined by the state or federal 
courts sitting in the western metropolis. 

Edwin Walker was born in Genesee county. 
New York, in 1S30, and is a son of Obadiah and 
Phoebe Cushman Walker. His father was from 
New Hampshire and the mother from ]\Iassa- 
chusetts. Mr. Obadiah Walker, the father, 
moved to New York state when eighteen years 
of age, and attained the great age of ninety-two 
years. His life was spent in agricultural pur- 
.'•uits, excepting only the period of his patriotic 
.'^ervice as a soldier in the war of 181 2. The 
mother died when our subject was a child of but 
three years of age. 

Reared on the parental homestead in Gene- 
see county, Edwin Walker was accorded the ad- 
vantages of as thorough an academic education 
as the place and period afiforded, and at an early- 
age formulated his plans for the future, turning 
his attention to that profession in which he has 
attained such distinctive honors and success. He 
pursued his technical studies under effective pre- 



ceptorship at Batavia, New York, and in 1854, at 
Buffalo, was admitted to the bar. Soon after this 
he came west, stopping at Logansport, Indiana, 
where he engaged in practice and attained con- 
sideraljle prominence at the Indiana bar. 

In i860 he was appointed general solicitor of 
the Cincinnati, Richmond & Logansport Railroad 
Company. In 1865 this road was extended to 
Chicago under the name of the Chicago & Great 
Eastern Railroad Company. The general offices 
were removed to Chicago, and Mr. W'ialker lo- 
cated there also in the same year, and from this 
date he has continued in the active practice of his 
profession in Chicago. In 1870 the Qiicago & 
Great Eastern became a part of the Pennsylvania 
system. Mr. Walker retained his connection 
with the legal department until 1883. In 1869 
he was appointed general solicitor of the Chi- 
cago, Danville & Vincennes Railroad Company, 
and in 1S70 was made Illinois solicitor of the 
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Com- 
pany, with which system he has thus been associ- 
ated for more than a quarter of a century. He is 
also retained as special counsel for several in- 
sm-ance companies and other important cor- 
porations. 

Although Mr. Walker has a masterly grasp 
upon the general principles of law, it is as a cor- 




e ucniury Publishing SEngravmg Co Chicago 




^c^-i^^^^-'^^^^^^^^~.c<..^yc<>\^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



201 



poration lawyer that he is most generally known. 
He has appeared prominently in most of the im- 
portant litigations in our state and federal courts, 
and his skill and ability are attested by so many 
reported cases that he has become an authority 
upon varied and intricate questions of corpora- 
tion law. Two railway cases in which Mr. 
Walker was engaged as general counsel are of 
such prominence as to demand special mention in 
this connection. The first resulted in the acqui- 
sition by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 
Railway Company of the Chicago & Pacific Rail- 
way. In 1876 the last mentioned company, hav- 
ing defaulted in the payment of interest on bonds, 
found its affairs had reached a critical standpoint. 
A bill of foreclosure on the mortgage, and pray- 
ing for the appointment of a receiver, was filed in 
the United States circuit court. It became at 
once apparent that other railroad companies de- 
sired the property ; among them the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee & St. Paul Company, of which Mr. 
Walker was then solicitor for Illinois. Under his 
advice this company purchased ;alx)ut fourteen 
thousand d(jllars of the first mortgage bunds, 
and without disclosing the ownership, Mr. 
Walker became a party to the proceedings by 
intervention. A degree of foreclosure was en- 
tered upon his motion. At the sale, in the inter- 
est of his clients, he bid $950,000.00, but John 
]. Blair, of New Jeisey, was the successful pur- 
cliaser. In accordance with the statutes of Illi- 
nois, the Chicago & Pacific Company, as defend- 
ants, could redeem the property from the sale 
witiiin one year, upon the pajinent of the amount 
bid with interest at eight per cent. Within a 
year Mr. Walker purchased for the St. Paul Com- 
jiany about all the capital stock, and also all the 
judgments against the Chicago & Pacific Com- 
jirniy. A special meeting of the stockholders was 
called, and by the \Mte they authorized the lease 
of the road to the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 
Cc mpany, and also the execution of a new mort- 



gage to secure a new issue of three millions of 
bonds upon the proi)erty. 

Mr. Walker liad been elected president of 
the Chicago & Pacific Company, and with money 
furnished by the St. Paul Company redeemed the 
property from sale under the decree. The lease 
was e.xecuted and the St. Paul Company entered 
into possession, completing the road, and now it 
is one of the principal lines of its system. This 
figures as the only case of the redemption of a 
railroad and all its property from sale under fore- 
closure decree by, or in the name of, the bank- 
rupt defendant company. 

The other case was the foreclosure of the 
mortgage of the Chicago, Danville & Vincennes 
Railroad Company, of which Mr. W^alker was 
general solicitor. In 1874 the owner of nine first 
mortgage bonds filed his bill in the circuit court 
of Will county, and by expert proceedings had 
a receiver appointed, who was placed, by order 
of the court, in possession of the property. The 
bill made the trustees under the mortgage, as well 
as the railway company, parties defendant. An 
act of congress, defining the jurisdiction of the 
federal courts and providing for the removal of 
causes from state to federal courts, was passed 
by congress and was approved March 3, 1875. 
Mr. Walker, believing that the cause was re- 
moxable under this act, prepared a petition, fol- 
lowing as closely as possible the provisions of the 
law. The circuit court of Will county was not 
then in session, but the petition was filed with the 
clerk and a transcript of the record requested. 
This was immediately prepared and was filed in 
tlie office of the clerk of the federal court. A 
motion to remand was interposed by the plaint- 
iff's counsel, and the motion was heard by the 
late Hon. Thomas Drummond, who was then 
circuit judge. .After full argument, the court 
overruled the motion to remand, and held that 
the cause was removable under the act of 1875, 
and Judge Drummond's construction of the act 



202 



PROMINENT :\IEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



was the first considered 1)y any court ; his con- 
struction has 1)een recognized as tlie law under 
that act until the present date. Subsequently the 
trustees under the first mortgage filed a bill to 
foreclose, and up<in motion, the receiver ap- 
pointed by the state court was removed and a new 
receiver appointed under the l)ill filed in the fed- 
eral court. A decree of foreclosure was entered 
in 1876. The property was sold and conveyed by 
the purchasers to the present Chicago & Eastern 
Illinois Railroad Company. Air. Walker, as 
solicitor for the railroad company, and the trus- 
tees under the second trust deed, appealed from 
the decree to the supreme court, which reversed 
the foreclosure decree of the circuit court and the 
order of sale under tlie decree. The Chicago & 
Eastern Illinois Railroad Company had been in 
pcssession of the property for al>out five years 
when the decree was received. The cause was 
remanded and the litigation was co^itinued by all 
parties in interest until 1884. when a compromise 
was effected between the Chicago & Eastern Illi- 
nois Company and the clients of Mr. Walker, 
and the title of the former to the property thereby 
perfected. Mr. Walker's ability, skill and tact as 
a trial lawver were never more thoroughly dem- 
onstrated than in the divorce case of Carter vs. 
Carter, where he was retained as leading counsel 
for Mr. Carter. His masterly cross-examination 
did more than anything else to win the verdict 
for his client. In presentation and argument of 
his cases before the courts nothing is more re- 
markable than the wonderful, deep penetration of 
his intellect, as shown in the masterly way in 
which he sur^-eys the controversy as a whole, 
grasps its salient points and marshals all its de- 
tails in logical order and in one comprehensive 
review. 

Tlie clearness and force with which he states 
a case from his own point of view leaves nothing 
in doubt. Not less remarkalile is his keen and 
acute skill in analytical reasuning and in logical 
argumentation, and nf this his addresses to the 



court gi\e abundant i)roof. These qualities have 
long Ijeen conspicuous in Air. \\"alker"s work and 
have gained him a high standing, not only at 
the Chicago bar but in the supreme court of the 
United States. In many important and other liti- 
gations in which he has been concerned he has 
sometimes had opposed to him the uK.st eminent 
lawyers in the country, and all who have encoun- 
tered him in debate have had occasion to ac- 
knowledge the soundness of his judgment in 
dealing with large and important interests ; and 
the uniform fairness which has characterized his 
altitude toward the other side. No man at the 
Chicago' bar has e\'er enjoyed the confidence of 
the judges to a greater degree than Mr. Walker. 
He has had a large clientage, being retained by 
many of the leading railroad companies of the 
country, in special cases, and bv manv large cor- 
porations. 

Probal)ly as comi)licated a piece of legal and 
corporate machinerv as was ever enacted and as 
comprehensive in the scope of its relations was 
the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Tlie 
wonderful diversity of interests and remarkable 
small number of instances of conflicting i>owers 
through all the mass of litigation are not more 
worthy of consideration and record than is the 
skill that could so master the great problems and 
pilot the enterprise to a successful issue. Sonie 
of its most trying situations were the result of 
legal CI implications that were so serious at times 
tb.at they threatened to involve the fetleral and 
state courts in a conflict over jurisdiction, and 
for a period of a few days the directors found 
themselves commanded by the state courts to 
open the gates on Sunday and at the same time 
commanded by the federal courts not to^ open the 
gates on Sunday. It was in critical situations of 
this nature that the services of Mr. \\'alker were 
relied upon bv all connected with the exposition, 
arid throughout the whole period of the expo- 
sition it reipiired not only his aliility as a lawyer 
but tact as a man familiar with the affairs of busi- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



203 



ness and nianag'ement of men to overcome and 
a\i>id the dithcnlties and legal impediments. Mr. 
Walker was one of the early promoters of this 
exposition, and (hiring its period of organization 
he took an aeti\e part and was elected its tempo- 
rary president. 

When the time came for the necessary na- 
tional laws and a choice of location, Mr. Walker 
was made chairman of the suh-committee on 
legislation and had charge of the work in Wash- 
ington. After Congress hail chosen he was made 
chairman of the committee to ch-aft and frame the 
necessary legislation and afterward became a 
director, chairman of its legislative committee 
antl member of both executive and conference 
committees. He was at the forefront in all legis- 
lation touching the exposition, guiding its legal 
matters through with unprecedented finesse and 
discrimination. His association with its litiga- 
tion was so intimate and \aluable that it is but 
consistent that there be reproduced in this con- 
nection his own record of the complications en- 
countered and successfully overcome. 

It is only justice that another important case 
with which Mr. Walker was connected be men- 
tioned ])el'ore we close the sketch — that is, the 
"Debs" case, or rather, the case of the United 
States against Debs, as this is regarded by many 
as the most enduring laiu'cl in the chaplet of his 
legal ren(.wn. In this the widest application of 
law 111 the general welfare and to conservation of 
the true liberties of the people was asserted and 
discussed h\ Air. Walker and carried to a success- 
ful ct.nclusiun bv the determination of the su- 
i)renie court of the I'nited States, which atfirmed 
the decision of the courts for the Northern Dis- 
trict of Illinois. A brief history of this case, 
which forms an enduring ]>recedent, may be 
thus stated, it being premised that Mr. Walker 
appeared as special counsel for the goxernment. 
and supervised or organized the preparation of 
the legal jjleadings upon which issues were joined 
and partici]5ated with the attorney general of 



the United States in the arguments upon the 
issues. 

The American Railway Union was an organi- 
zation intended to include all classes of railway 
employes, its purpi>se Ijeing to extend its juris- 
diction over all the railways in the United States. 
Under its constitution its l>oard of directors liad 
authority and power to order strikes and boy- 
cotts, and to discontinue the same at their dis- 
pleasure. The promoter and organizer of the 
union was Eugene V. Debs. It had a board of 
directors of nine members, of which Debs was 
president. The union was organized in 1893 and 
its second annual convention was held in the city 
of Chicago commencing June 12, 1894. For sev- 
eral months prior to this date the employes of 
the Pullman Manufacturing Company had been 
erigaged in a strike. As early as the fifteenth of 
June, at the instance of some of the Pullman dele- 
gates, the ntatter was brought before the conveir- 
tion for consideration. Debs, as president, pre- 
sided at the meeting and then advocated that 
something in the nature of a boycott should be 
declared. Efforts were made to bring about this 
arbitration between the Pullman Company and 
its employes. Failing in this, on the twenty-sixth 
of June a boycott was declared on all cars owned 
and operated by the Pullman Company. A sym- 
pathetic strike immediately followed upon the 
part of the members of the .American Railway 
Union. The locomotive engineers, firemen, con- 
ductors and other employes in the passenger serv- 
ice generally refused to follow the order of the 
union. Practicall_\- all otlier employes of the rail- 
road companies terminating in the city of Chi- 
cago joined the strike. At this time the organi- 
zation membership was one hundred and fifty 
thousand, extending from Cleveland, Ohio, to the 
Pacific coast. 

The usual violence followed and before July i 
there was practically a forced suspension of busi- 
ness upoii most railroad lines radiating from Chi- 
cago. July 2, by direction of the attorney gen- 



204 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WESf 



cral of tliL- United States, a bill (j£ complaint was 
tiled ill the circuit court for the northern district 
of Illinois against Debs and the directors of the 
union for a writ of injunction restraining Debs 
and others frt>m interfering with the movement 
of trains engaged in interstate commerce and the 
transportation of the mails. The order was en- 
tered by Judges Wood and Grosscup, and upon 
the same day the writ was served upon Debs and 
other defendants. 

The order was entirely disregarded, and the 
court finding it impossible to enforce its orders, 
the President ordered the federal troops stationed 
at Fort Sheridan to rqjort in the city and assist 
the marshal in enforcing the order of the court. 
E\'en with the aid of the federal troops the e.xe- 
cutiun of the order of the court could not be en- 
forced. .\ special grand jury was called about 
the middle of July and several indictments were 
returned against Debs and other officers of the 
union. The court, at the reijuest of the counsel 
representing the government, entered an order 
directing the telegraph companies of the city to 
bring in all telegrams transmitted by Dtbs and 
the other defendants after the entry of the in- 
junction order. M(ire than si.x; ihousand tele- 
grams were br(,ught to the grand jury room, and 
those furnished all necessary evidence against the 
defendants. July 17 an information for attach- 
liicnt for contemi>t against the defendants was 
tiled in court, writs of attachment were issued 
against the defendants, the court ortlering that 
they be committed to jail, but they were at once 
released upon gi\ing l>ail. Other writs were 
issued, and the defendants were also arrested un- 
der criminal indictment. 

The hearing of the contemjjt proceedings was 
ha<l in Octol>er, continuing for three weeks. Judge 
Wood presiding. His opinion was filed Decem- 
ber 4, holding the defendants guilty of contempt 
and or<lering Debs six months, ;m<l the other de- 
fendants three months, in iail. This case is re- 
ported in 64 I'edcral Rep., 174, and is regarded 



as a classic by lawyers. Mr. Walker appeared as 
special counsel for the go\'erninent and United 
States District .Vttorney Milchrist as its regular 
legal agent. 

January 14, 1895, the defeiuiants ajiplied to 
the suiireme court of the L'nited States for a writ 
of habeas corpus. During the pendency of the 
petition bail was accepted and the defendants re- 
leased from custody. The matter was argued 
^larch 25 and 26, 1895, and May 2"/ the supreme 
court denied the petition. Reported 158 United 
States Rep., 5^)4. 

Politically Mr. Wialker is a stanch Republi- 
can. He has invariably declineil to become a can- 
didate for anv public office. He is an earnest 
churchman, a Protestant E]>iscopal, a communi- 
cant of Grace church, a member of its vestry, and 
its senior church warden. He is thoroughly de- 
voted to his ]>rofession but is identified with 
numerous business enterprises. Over twenty- 
se\en vears agO' he formed a partnershiii with 
Col. W'. P. Rend, and in transaction of business 
the firm of W. P. Rend & Company, coal, is one 
of the best known in Chicago. They o])erate ex- 
clusively in O'hio and Pennsyl\-ania. The rela- 
tions of these two men ha\'e been of the UKjst inti- 
mate character, and during the long partnership 
nothing has occurred to mar the friendship 
formed so man}^ years ago. Vlx. Walker has 
many other financial and business interests of 
importance. 

In 1857 Mr. Walker was married to Miss 
Lydia Johnson, daughter of Col. Israel John- 
son, a prominent merchant of Logansiwrt, Indi- 
ana. She lived but two years after they came to 
Chicago. Of this union three sons were born, 
the two eldest, Edwin C. and J. Brandt Walker, 
are married and live in Chicago. The youngest, 
Wilmer Earl Walker, a boy of great promise, 
died at the age of twenty-one, at the commence- 
ment of his senicn- year at Vale College. In 
1870 Mr. Walker married again, to Mrs. Desde- 
mona Kinib;ill, daughter of IMajor Samuel Ed- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



205 



sell, one (jf the oldest and best-known citizens in 
the pul)lic and sucial Hfe of Eort Wayne, In- 
diana. 

Althiiui^'h a nienil)er ni nian\- pruniinent social 
ciuhs nf the cilw Mr. Walker Inrds his greatest 



solace and satisfaction with his family and 
friends in his attractive home, participating in 
such social functions as his professional and other 
duties will permit. He has traveled extensively 

ill (lie L'liilcil States and ahrdad. 



PRESTON GIBSON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Preston Gibson was born March 13, 1S79, 
at Washington, D. C., and is a son of the late 
Randall Lee Gibson, United States senator 
from Louisiana, and Mary Montgomerv Gib- 
son, and a nephew of Mr. Jus- 
tice White, of the United States 
supreme court. His education 
was completed at Yale Univer- 
sitv- 




While at ^'ale he was a member of both 
football and baseball teams and of the Berg- 
elius Society, the oldest society of the scien- 
tific school. He is now^ a member of the 
Onwentsia and Satldle and Cycle Clubs (if Chi- 
cago. 

Mr. Gibson is a Gold Democrat in politics, 
and a member i.>f the R(3inan Catholic church. 



After leaving college M'r. 



He was married January 21/, 1900, tO' Miss 
Gibson engaged in the real estate Minna I'leld, ilaughter of the late Henry Field, 
business in the office of Bryan La- brother of Marshall Field, of Chicago. Mrs. 
throp. of Chicago, with marked Heiu"v Field afterward married Thomas Nelson 
success. Page. 



J. HARRINGTON EDWARDS 

KALISPELL, MONT. 

J. Harrington h^dwards, vice-president of the the Second .\ational liank at I'j-ie, PennsyKania, 
Conr;id Xational ISank of Kalispcll, Montana, is and from iSSfi to 1S91 financial agent for Gran- 
well and favorably known in financial circles in (Hn Brothers & Dalrymple, wheat farms, elevator 
that citv, having been prominently identified with and steaiuboat com])any. Fraill county. North 
public enterprises and large corporations for Dakota. In .\pril. 1891 , he came to Montana as 
some years. cashier of the K.alispell Townsite Compan_\- at 

J. H. Edwards was born December 26, 1866, Kalispell : June, 1893. '^^'''■'^ made assistant .secre- 

at West Lebanon. New Hampshire, and is a son tary for same company, and in January, 1898, 



of Rev. Dr. John Harrington Edwards and Caro- 
line Starr Edwards. He was educated in corn- 



was made vice-president of the Conrad National 
Ijank both of which positions he now fills, and is 



nmn and high schools and academies at \-arious also a director in tlic Big Fork Electric Power 
places and one vear at the I'niversity of Minne- and Light Company, if said place. Mr. l-'dwards 
seta. From 1885 to 1886 he was bookkeeper at served as alderman of Kelispell. Montana, in 



2o6 PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WiSST 

1892. 1893 and 1894. In 1898 he was a member \\ Hiidmaii nf America. In jji-litics a stanch Repnl)- 
of the schdcil Imard, and in 1899 to date a nicmher lican. He lias tra\eled tln"iiughinu the L'nited 
of the ^Montana state board of horticulture, and is States, Canada and Euni])e. He is an Episco- 
also president of the Flathead County Humane p-alian in relig;i(;us Ijelief. Mr, Fuhvards was mar- 
Society, ried June i-|. 1893, to Miss Alary K. Dixon, of 
Mr. Edwards is a Mason and M( tlern ( )ttumwa, bwa. She died October jfi. 1898. 



JOHN F. WALLACE 

CHICAGU, ILL. 

John Findlev Wallace, civil engineer, as- Col. Maconil), being engaged on surveys and con- 

sistant general manager of the Illinois Central struction w<;rk in the improvement of the Rock 

Railroad, Chicago, 111., was Ixirn at Fall River, Island rapids, hydrographic surveys for the 

Mass.. September to, i85_>. In 1854 his parents guard lock of the U. S. ship canal at Keokuk, la., 

moved to Hostc^n. Mass.. and in 1856 to Mon- and \arious sur\eys connected with river im- 

mouth. 111., his father. Rev. Daxid A. Wallace, jirovements ; receiving several promo'tions during 

D. D.. LL. D.. having been selected president of that period. Sq>tember i, 1876, he left the 

Monmouth College, which institution he founded, service of the United States Goverument and was 

organized and conducted for twenty-three years. engaged in private surveying and engineering 

The subject nf this sketch resided at Mon- practice until Aiiril. 1879. when he was appuinted 

nionth until i8f)9 and was educated at Mon- Chief Engineer of the Burlington, Monmouth & 

mouth College. In November, 1869, he entered [Missouri River R. R. The following year this 

the service of the Carthage & Ouincy R. R. as road was merged into the Peoria & Farmington 

rcdman. In January. 1870. he left that road R. R., and Mr. Wallace had charge of the loca- 

and entered the service of the Ouincy, Alton S: tion. construction and (iperation of that road as 

St. Louis R. R. as instrumentman. In March. Chief Engineer and General Superintendent be- 

1870, he was employed, on the Rockford, Rock tween Peoria and Keithsburg, Ills., until 1883. 

Island & St. Louis R. R. as draftsman, and in when it was merged mU* the Central Iowa R. R. 

May cf the same year returned to the service of I^'rom this time until 1887 he was engag-ed a.s 

the Carthage & Ouincv R. R. In Septenil)er, Engineer (,f Construction and blaster of Trans- 

1870. he left the Carthage & Ouincy R. R. and portatic.m in the Central [owa R. R.. having all 

re-entered college. August 5. 1871. he received transp(jrtalion matters in his charge between Os- 

an appointment as rodman on the L'nited States kaloo.sa. la., and Peoria. Ills., and also Engineer 

I'-ugineer Corps at Rock Island. Ills. Se])teml:ie'." in charge of construction work, .\mong other 

II. 1871. he was married to Sarah E. Ulmer, important works he designed and constructed 

of Monmouth. In November of the same year yards at Keithslnirg and West Keithsburg. as well 

he was promoted to the position of Civil Engi- as inclines, cradles and transfer facilities for the 

neer's assistant on the staf? of Col. Macomb. handling of railroad traffic over the Mississippi 

Until September. 1876, he was employed under river at that point. In the winter of 1884 he 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



209 



also constructed ;i winter hridsjjc acrcss tlie river, 
and made sur\'e\s and located the Inwa Central 
ixrinanent bridge at the same locality. After- 
wards as Associate Engineer lie had charge of 
the construction of the appro.aches to this liridge 
;nid the CHistruction of a bridge over the Black 
I lawk channel. ■ 

In Feljruary, 1SS7, he was appointed Resi- 
dent Bridge Engineer <►! the Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe R. R., reporting to Mr. O Chanute, 
Consulting Engineer, and had charge of the con- 
struction of that company's bridge over the Mis- 
souri ri\'er at Sil>ley, Missouri. This was a mod- 
ern steel structure 92 feet above the water and 
three quarters of a mile in' length. In connection 
with his work as resident engineer of the Sibley 
bridge, he alsn ha<l charge of the ri\-er rectifica- 
t'cin wcrks, extending fi r sewn miles r|> the Mis- 
souri ri\-er from tlie bridge site, the object of 
these works being to maintain a permanent chan- 
nel at the bridge location. He also' had charge 
id' the design of the piers of the bridge over the 
Mississipiji ri\er at I"i rt Madison, b)wa, and 
later had charge of certain works connected with 
the protection uf this bridge. 

In .\i)ril. 1889. he resigned his ]>osition with 
the A. T. & S. F. K. R. and associated himself 
with Mr. E. L. Corthell, ccnisnlting engineer, at 
Chicago, Illinois. While engaged with Mr. Cor- 
thell among other imjiortant works he had charge 
of the construction of the joint Atchison, Topeka 
& Santa Fe and Illinois Central Railroad termi- 
nal in the citv of Ch'icago for the main line of the 
A. T. & S. F. Railroad and the Sioux City line 
c;f the Illinois Central. 

Januarv i, i8i;i, he was ai)])ointed engineer 
(d' construction of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
and on March i, iScjj. chief engineer of tlie same 
road. During his term as chief engineer he de- 
signed and superintended the construction of ex- 
tcnsi\-c imprq\-emenfs o\-er the entire Illinois 
Central s\'stcm. including ele\ation of tracks in 
Chicago, new terminal station .and tracks. World's 



Fair transportation scheme, terminal facilities at 
New Orleans and other cities, and man\- other 
large and important pieces of work. At the same 
time he had general charge of the maintenance 
of the physical condition of the Illinois Central 
Railrc ad lines and jirojierty. July i, 1897, he re- 
signed his ])osition with the Illinois Central Rail- 
road and became vice-president and general man- 
ager of the Mathioson' Alkali Works, of Provi- 
dence, Rhode Island (works at Saltville, Vir- 
ginia, and Niagara Falls, New York). January 
I, 1898, he returned to the service of the Illinois 
Central Railroad as assistant second vice-presi- 
dent, which position he held until January i, 
1901, when he was appointed assistant general 
manager. Bi this position he has charge of the 
entire operating department of the Illinois Cen- 
tral system, comprising the care of the physical 
condition of the property and all construction, 
transportation, machinery and telegraph matters. 
The following officers report to him : Chief en- 
gineer, consulting engineer, engineer of construc- 
tic;n, general su])erin'tendcnt of transportation, 
superintendent of machinery, superintendent of 
telegraph, chief surgeon, chief claim agent, chief 
special agent, the assistant general superintendent 
of lines south i>f the Ohio ri\'er, and all division 
superintendents of lines north ui the Ohio ri\er. 
The Illinois Central s_\-steni eml.>races about 5, -'50 
miles of railroad. 

]\Ir. Wallace is a member of the Institution 
of Ci\dl Engineers of Creat Britain : of the .Amer- 
ican Societv of Civil luigioeers, being president 
of this organization in 1900; of the American 
Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way 
.Kssociation, of which he was president for two 
years. 1S99 and i<)Oo: of the \\'estern Society of 
Engineers, of which he was president in i89('). 
.Among the local Chicago organizations Mr. 
Wallace is a member of the Union League Club, 
being one of the committee on political action; 
also of the Kenwood and Technical Clubs. He 
is a member also of the l-jigineers' Club of New 



2 lO 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



York. Mr. Wallace is the author of several val- 
uahle scientific papers puhlished hy the American 
Society of Civil Engineers. 

Children: Harold U. Wallace, born Novem- 
ber, 1872. married to Lura Wycoff, of Keiths- 
birrg, Illinois, in September, 1894: educated as 



civil engineer; for several years ruadmaster of 
the I. C. Railroad at Louisville. Kentucky., now 
superintendent of the Freei)ort division, hcad- 
(piarters at Freeport, Illinois. Rirdena Frances 
Wallace, married to Thornton M. Orr, of Pitts- 
burg, Pennsylvania, September 22, 1897. 



JAMES De WITT ANDREWS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Some ten years ago the American legal fra- 933, this language: "It is at once compact, clear 
ternity became the beneficiary to the re-publica- and elegant. His preface is one of the best mod- 
tion of the body of that standard work. "Ste- els of good English which it has been our ])leas- 
phen's Pleading,"' with valuable and careful notes ure to read. In respect of its style his work will 
thereto from the pen of our distinguished fellow- stand among the first legal classics of England 
citizen, Mr. James DeWitt An- and America. * * * Neither Blackstoiie, nor 
drews ; in its amplification this Kent, nor Story, nur Greenleaf surpasses it." 
edition of that subject proved a The following concession is made bv an ad- 

gift to the busv lawyer with its verse critic: "It is the first serious attempt 
apt citations, and a Ixhui to Amer- wliich has been made on this side of the Atlantic 
ican students of law, for the text at a complete classification of our legal systems; 
was ada])ted both to the common- ;ind this attempt must be conceded toi rank as a 
law and code states. real achie\ement. It is an extraordinary exam- 

Following that treatise on ad- pie of analysis and criticism, reminding one of 
jective law came the international Austin in the refinement of its reasoning and the 
re-dedication of a long-kjst minuteness of its observation. * * * Regarded 
.American classic, the "Discourses Upon Juris- as a discourse on method, as a treatise on legal 
prudence and the Political Science." (1790-2), analysis, it is likely to take a i)ennanent place in 

the small list of works of th;it character which 
the Ijusy genius of Anglo-. \merican law has 
th (!Ui' found time to pnxluce." — Cohiinbia Laze Kcz'ica'. 
lames DeWitt Andrews, the son of Robert C. 
.\ndrews and l\hoda Clark Kingsbury Andrews, 
was born in .Sterling. Whiteside county. Illinois, 
on Febru;ir\' 22, 1856; it was his good fortimc 




by lames Wilson, associate justice of the supreme 
court of the United States and professor of law 
in the University of Pennsylvania, wi 
author as its editor contributing numerous 
notes. 

Full of great iimmise. a new volume on Amer- 
ican substantive and adjective law from the legal 
labratory of our jurist has for .several years to attend the local grammar and high .schools 
adorned our libraries. The consensus of opinion, and matriculate at the Union University of New 
both of the bench and the bar. is that "Andrews' Vnvk and to graduate from the Albany Law 
.\nicrican Law" is the i)eer uf i!l;ickstone and School in 1879. 
Kent ; witness in 34 ".\merican Law Review," I'Jeturning to Sterling in that year. Mr. An- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



21 I 



ilrcws liecame a practicing lawyer, and was 
elected in 1880 its city attorney; his term of 
ofHce attractetl especial attention Ijy reasnn 
111 his vig'oraus prosecution of liquor sell- 
ers. In 1883 he remoA'ed to. Morrison. Whiteside 
county, Illinois, and became and remained until 
i8yo a niemher of the hrni of Woodruff & An- 
drews. During" that period his tirm enjoyed the 
best practice in the count}'. 

In 1890 Mr. Andrews, at the request of Rich- 
ard Prendergast. since deceased, came to Chicago 
and associated with him in the practice of law; 
since then Mr. Andrews has had a general prac- 
tice, besides acting as counsel in many im- 
portant cases, Tlie Pacific Railway Case, Mc- 
Kenna v. McKenna, Medina Temple Case, Hart- 
ford Deposit Company v. Rector; and for about 
a decade he has been law critic for the firm of 
Callaghan & Co., law publishers, and has de\'ote(l 
all his spare time to law writing. 

Mr. Andrews is a member of the .Xmerican- 
P)ar Association, and is chairman of its committee 
on classification of law, and chairman of the com- 
mittee on legal education of the Illinois State I'ar 



Association. In 1895-7 ^^i'- Andrews was a pro- 
fessor of law in the Northwestern University 
Law School. 

On June 9, 1880, Mr. Andrews was married 
to Minnie Alice Barrett, grand-niece of Marcus 
Whitman, and they have two children: Barrett 
C. and Helen R. Andrews, aged respectively 
eighteen and fourteen years. 

The University of Pennsylvania Jionored Mr. 
Andrews with a call tO' deliver an address on 
James Wilson, which will be found in The Amer- 
ican Law Register for December, 1901, and en- 
titled "James Wilson and His Relation to [uris- 
])rudence and Constitutional Law." 

Of Scotch descent, possessing its indomitable 
energy, diligence and perseverance, a succes.sor to 
the great Erskine — John Erskine of Carnock, 
Ijrofessor of Scots law in the L^niversity of Edin- 
burgh and author <if "The Institutes of the Law 
of Scotland," Mr. Andrews merits and com- 
mands the admiration and esteem of the Ameri- 
can bench and bar. and we may say of him. as ' 
was said O'f Chancellor Kent, "And nothing 
meets mine eyes but deeds of honor." 



HON. ROBERT JACKSON GAMBLE 

YANKTON, S. D. 



Rolicrt Jackson Gamble, United States sen- 
ator from South Dakota, member of congress 
and lawyer, was born near Akron, Genesee 
county. New York, February 7, 185 1, and is the 
.son of Robert Gamble and Jennie (Abcrnethy) 
Gamble. His mother was a second cousin if 
President Andrew Jackson. He moyed with his 
parents to Fox Lake. WSisconsiu. in 18(12. was 
reared on a farm and recei\'ed a common-schoul 
and collegiate education. He taught school 



with the class of 1874. He went to Yankton, 
South Dakota, in 1875, was admitted to the bar 
of that state, and has been in the active practice 
of his profession since Januar_\- i. 1876. He was 
associated with his hmther. John R. Gamble, in 
the practice of law. who was elected a member of 
the fifty-second congress from South Dakota, but 
died in 1891. before taking his seat. 

Robert J. Gamble was district attorney for 
the second judicial district of the territor}^ in 
throiigh part of his course, and with the means 1S80; he was city attorney for Yankton for two 
thus secured attended college, graduating from terms. 1884 and 1885, state senator in 1885, un- 
the Lawrence University, .\ppleton, Wisconsin, der the constitution adopted that year was elected 



: 12 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



to tlie tifty-l'ourth and lify-sixth congresses, and lege in 1890 and 1891. Mv. (iamble was mar- 
elected to the United States senate January 23, ried March 26. 1884. to Miss Carrie S. Osborne, 
1901. to succeed Richard F. I'ettigrcw. the daughter nf (leorge Qshcirne, of Portage, 
Mr. Gamble is a stanch Republican, a mem- Wiscnnsin. She was educated at St. Mary's 
ber of the Congregational church, and was a Academy. Faribault. Minnesi;ta. Thcv have a 
member of the board of trustees of Yankton Col- snn. Ralph A. Gamble, sixteen vears of age. 



ADOLF KRAUS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Mr. Adolf Kraus is evei"}- where known as a 
leading meiiiber of the bar of Cook county. His 
name is inseparably connected with the history of 
jurisprudence in this section (jf the state of Illi- 
nois. He is an able ad.vocate and bis opinion 
never fails to carry great weight with judge antl 
jury. 

Adolf Kraus was burn in lilnwitz. Ijohemia, 
I'cbruary 26, 1848, and is a S(jn of Jonas and 
Ludmila (Ehdlich) Kraus. At an early age he 
came to America to escape the seven years' mili- 
tary service exacted l)y Austria. He arrived in 
New York with but little money and began life as 
a farm hand. 1 le then drifted into New England, 
and in ("onnecticvit worked as a factory hand, 
finally obtaining a jxjsition as clerk in a dry 
g(M)ds house. Just after the great fire of 1871 he 
ctune to Chicago and obtained a clerksliip. In 
1872, having saved a little money, he decided to 
visit bis uKither in Bohemia. L'p<in his return to 
Chicago-, having speut all his savings, he ob- 
tained a position in the dry goods house of John 
York, at that time one of the leading firms in that 
line <if business in Halsted street, l^pon api)ly- 
ing for a ])osition Mr. 'N'ork t()ld him th.it he did 
not need any more help. Mr. Kraus referred to 
his knowledge of several langua.ges, but without 
avail. Finally he told Mr. York that be must 
have a place to work in, and that if be might be 
allowed to do so he would come into the store and 



work a week for nothing, unless in the meantime 
the proprietor found his services worth soiue- 
thing. At the end of the week Mr. Kraus drew 
the largest salary paid to anxdne in the store ex- 
cc])t the manager. He remained here several 
months and then accepted a clerkship in a law 
o.lice, where by the closest kind of work he was 
admitted to the bar in 1877. He at once openetl 
a law office at 79 Clark street and settled di \vn 
to the practice of his jirofession as the only IjO- 
licmian lawver in Chicago at that time. The 
very first day he earned a good fee, and from the 
beginning success came to jiini. Willirnn .S. 
I'rackctt. now of I'coria, was his lirst partner, 
but he was not long in the firm, hi that lirst 
y^ar Air. Kraus defended six men charged with 
murder. Only one of these was con\-icted ruid be 
was sentenced to only five years in the i}eniten- 
liarv. Criminal practice was not to his liking, 
howe\er, and he .ga\'e it up f(.'r mightier prob- 
lems of the law. ^\v. Le\\- Mayer was the tirst 
to coine inttj the firm after Mr. Brackett. Then 
came Phillip Stein and Tin mas A. Moran. In 
lanuarv, i<;oi. Mi\ Kr.aus withdrew ami associ- 
ated himself with L'. R. llohlen, one of the linn's 
junior members. This was in order that ]\lr. 
Kraus might arrange bis business so that bis sons 
might succeed to it. February 13. loni, Mr. 
.Samuel Alschuler, who was candidate for gov- 
eriii'r of Illinois on the regular Democratic ticket 




rr^T^.-v--^-7 '^r~ 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 215 

ill llie fall i)f 1900 a,i;'aiiist Richard Yates, the Re- l)iit in iS(j_^ Air. Kraiis \\;is his caiiipaitiu iiiaii- 

|)ul)lican iii miiitc. was adniitttd tn the tinn, and asier, and when Mr. llarrisnn was elected he ap- 

it is now kin'wn as Kraus, Alschuler & Holden, ])ointed Mr. Kraus as corporation counsel. This 

and is looked upon as one of the leading legal was accepted on condition that Mr. Kraus might 

firms of the state. resign in the following January. When he finally 

Jn j8Si Mr. Kraus was appointed to tlie retired the re[)orts of his office showed that not 

school board, where he ser\'ed until 1S87, for two a case had been lost Ijy the citv during his term, 

years as president of that body. It was while act- It was while ISIr. Kraus was coriKiration 

ing as chairman of the committee on school fund counsel that the first railway track elevation was 

property that Mr. Kraus effected a material good taken up. Negotiation.s were with the Pennsyl- 

to the present s\stem. \ania Company, and after numerous inter\iews 

At Harrison street and Fifth avenue, land be- that road decided that it would do nothing to ele- 

longing to the school fund was occupied by lum- vate tracks, owing to- the heavy cost. Mr. Kraus 

ber yards. The next block south belonged to the caused an investigation of the company's rights 

United States. Railroads desiring both proper- of w ay, finding that many public streets had beeu 

ties for a station site, paid the gm-emment three crossed without authority. On his ad\ice, and 

hundred and twentv thousand dollars for its without an\' notice to the cump.'uu', the suiK.*riii- 

land, ofl'cring a like amount tO' the school board. tcndent of streets, with a large gang of men. be- 

At that time the lioard was collecting rents on a gaii to tear up the trespassing tracks. Within 

much smaller valuation, but Mr. Kraus got the twclxe hours the company came to term,5. 

l)o;n'd menibers together in consultation with the Charles T. ^'erkes. on one of his north side 

railwavs' agents. Some members of the board lines, was (jperating a I'elgian motor, run by gas, 

wanted to sell, others wanted five hundred thou- which was a source of constant annoyance to 

sand dollars, while Mr. Kraus and Graeme Stew- residents living along the streets. When the city 

art held out for seveu hundred and fifty thousand attemiited to stop it Yerkes got out an injunction 

dollars. The railroads threatened condemnatiou against the police. When .Mr. Kraus had written 

])i"oceediiigs. but in the end llie\- paid seveu bun- lo .Mr. ^'erk'^^ f( r an interview and received no 

dred thousand dollars for the property, gi\-ing a answer he went into court and got the injunction 

mortgage for the amount, to be pavable in gold at dissijKed. Then orders were issued to the police 

the end (f fiftv vears, the mortgage to i)av si.x to slo]) the m<:toi"s wherever found. The re- 

])er cent, interest. In that way the school fund suit was thru the machines were ])iilled !)ack to 

gained an annual inc<?me of fortv-two thousand the harn-^ b\- horse power and ne\er went out 

dollars for fifty years. again. 

While Mr. Kraus was president of the board When the elder Carter II. Il;irrisou decided 

bids were asked fi r on scIkioI desks, and all the t(j buy the L'hicago Times, in iS(;i. Mr. Kraus 

bidilers set the uiiifi rin i)rice of $3.95. .Mr. was iinited to take stock, which he did, lie and 

Kraus at once got into communication with Mr. Manikin being the onlv stockholders. The 

houses that had not bid<len, and the desks were ]);iper under .Mr. Harrison was a losing \enture, 

bought at $i.()o each, eft'ectiveK- breaking u]) the an<l when he was assassinated his sons took 

trust. charge. Losses continued, and finally Mr. Kraus 

In iS<)i .Mr. Kr;nis le<l the bolt in the Chi- took editorial charge of the paper. 1 f e changed 

cago Dcnucralic ci mention in fa\o|- of Carter its whole cditi rial policv, changed it troni eight 

II Harrison for ma_\-i r. Harrison was defeated. pages to twelve and fourteen pa.ges. and after one 



2l6 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



year lie and Mr. Hawley sold it for the price 
originally paid fur the property. 

In 1897 -^''- I'^''<iii'^ ^^tis selected as president 
of the civil service commission, but finding it 
todk too much of his time, resigned the office. 
>dr. Kraus has prospered and is now a large prop- 
ert\' owner in Chicago. He is of the Jewish faith 
and has alwavs been ])ri'minent in the church. 
He is president of the bnard of trustees of Rabbi 
Stidz's cimgregation. 

In his home is an e.\i)ression of artistic tastes, 
both in furnishings and in some of the rare can- 
vases on bis walls. .\s an art c< nnnisseiu" he lie- 



longs to the strictly modern scIujoI. His house 
at 4518 Drexel Boulevard has been his residence 
since 1894. 

Mr. Kraus was married in 1877. His wife 
was Miss Matilda Hirsch, of Chicago. They 
have foiu" children, Miss Paula and Albert, Harry 
and Milton. 

Mr. Kraus is a valued member nf the Athletic, 
In ipiois. Standard, Lakeside and Press Clubs, 
and is president of Isaiah Temple. His interest 
in the welfare, progress and moral and material 
adx'ancement of Chicago is deep and sincere, and 
his efforts in its l.>ehalf are mn without results. 



HARVEY STRICKLER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

BV JAMES J. KELLY 

Harvey Strickler is a native of Virginia. He ated with Peckhani & Brown who have a na- 

was Ijorn August 22, 1870, on a farm near the tii.nal reputation as Ijanking lawyers, until r^lay, 

historic town, Winchester, on soil made famous 1P93, since which time he has been unassociated 

bv Sheridan in the battle of Winchester. His in the practice. 

parents. J( hn Stouffer, and Helen Heathering- Mr. Strickler is one of the best-read lawyers 

ton Strickler, still reside near at the Chicago bar. He is an authority on all 
^\'inchester, where his father is a 




well-to-do farmer and a promi- 
nent citizen. 

Mr. Strickler was educated in 
the schojls for which Winchester 
is justly famed, and after gradu- 



law ])crtaining to ccrpcraticns and real estate, to 
vihich he has given special attention, and which 



makes up the liulk of his large practice. 

He is a forceful speaker, and is a power tie- 
f( re court or jury, and well wnrtby bis reputation 
as a great lawwer and an honest man. While de- 
aling there taught school in his \(ting his time assiduously to his profession, Mr. 
home county and in Mineral Strickler lias found time to make a host of 
countw West \'irginia. friends. He has the social (jualities peculiar to 

.\t ninetceu he came west- and taught school \'irginians. and makes friends of all who come 



in Whiteside county, Illinois, one year, after 
which he came to Chicago and entered the North- 
western University Law School, from which he 
changed t" the Kent Law School, from which he 
received the degree of LL. B. in June, 1893, at 
which time he was admitted to the bar and be- 
gan practicing his profession. He was associ- 



in contact with him. He belongs to the Masonic 
( rder and various other social and fraternal or- 
ganizations. Although an active Republican, he 
]iersistentlv refuses political preferment. 

He married Sarah Irene Buell. of Sterling, 
Illinois, in May, 1896, and they have three 
sons. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 217 

He is an ardent clex'otee nf tlie md and i;'un which is in some measure respnnsiljle U'r tlie ro- 

and spends iiis summer vacations in the great liust constitution wliich enables liim to ])crform 

\\( ods of Northern Wisconsin, near to nature's ihc immense amount of work recpiired by his 

lieart. whicli he considers the ideal existence, and ])ractice. 



HON. MARCUS KAVANAGH, JR. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Judge Marcus Kavanagh, Jr., is a native of anagh. \\'hen Air. (iiljlions was elected judge of 

the state of Iowa, a son of Marcus and Mary the circuit bench. IMr. Kavanagh formed a new 

(Hughes) Kavanagli, and was born at Des partnership with Mr. O'Donnell, the firm being 

Moines September 3. 1859. His father, Marcus known as Kax'anagli & O'Donnell. Mr. Kav- 

Kavanagh, was a native of County W'icklnw, and anagh made no choice of any special branch of 

his mother of County Mayo, Ireland. The sur- the law, for he possesses that mental grasp which 

name Marcus is evidently hereditar\' in the family, made it an easy matter for him to discover the 

for the grandfather, a native of County Wex- salient points in any case, and consequently a 

ford, is so named. His father, a man of good general jiractice was carried on by the iirm. ]\Ir. 

circumstances, came to .America in 1850 and set- Kavanagh was elected judge of the circuit court, 

tied in Des Moines, where Marcus Kavanagh which position he still retains, 

was born and received his early education in the Some reference is recjuired to Colonel Kav- 

public schools. He afterKvards attended the anagh's record as a soldier. Since his earliest 

Niagara University where he graduated in 1876, years military matters ha\-e always been to him 

and then attended the low'-a State University and of aljs( rbing interest. At Niagara Uni\-ersity he 

graduated in law in 1878. He immediately be- uas under military instruction for five years, and 

gan practicing at Des Moines, where his ability while studying law in lowa^ City, Iowa, he was 

and ready resource soon made for him consid- under Captain Chester, of West Point, a soldier 

erable mark in his profession. Evei'y ca.se he who was unusually competent to instruct in the 

took charg-e nf was conducted most carefully, and arts of war. He was elected maji r of the Third 

ample preparation was besto-wed before trial Regiment, Iowa National Guard, in DesMoines, 

whenever the opportunity offered. He is a fine and afterward its lieutenant-colonel, and soon 

s|)eaker, with a most excellent manner and effect- after his arrival in Chicagcv he was elected licu- 

ive ])iiwer. tenant-coli.mel of the Se\'enth Infantrv. Thrnugb 

Marcus Kavanagh, Jr., was elected city attor- all the trying rint times of the summer of 1894 

ney of Des Mofnes in iScSj and re-elected in 1884. the Seventh Regiment did n(.ble service, and the 

He was clu)sen as district judge of the ninth pi lice being engaged in the suiiurljs, it was for a 

judicial district of Iowa in 1885, but this posi- ci'U])le of weeks the nnly force for the protection 

tic:n the Hun. John Gibbrms, recognizing his nt the citv. 

great ability aufl superior qualifications needed Owing to the hea\\- pressure o.f bis legal 

more scope for action induced him to resign, and diuies, and also to the hard feeling in the regi- 

coming to Chicago they formed a law partner- ment, rendering harmony among the officers an 

ship, the fimi being known as Gibbons & Kav- impossibility, Lieutenant-Colonel Kavanagli re- 



2l8 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



sitjiicd liis ci ininaiid in the fall of 1895. On Catln lie. and in politics he is a stanch Repuh- 

April !_'. iS(/). liMwcvcr, he was iinan.imously lican. 

elected to tile position of colonel of the leginient. Colonel or Judge Kavanagh is a tall, fine look- 

wliicli had been \acated by Colonel Francis T. ing man. being one who will attract attention of 

Colby, and his installation was made an occa- the stranger at once by liis affable and courteous 

sion of such heart}- appro\al. which well testitied iiianner and dignified l^earing. He passesses great 

to his popularit\- in the Se\enth Regiment. executive powers and dispatches business in a 

in relii.;iiiii Ci loncl Ka\aiiaeh is a Roman most wonderful manner. 



JAMES W. DUNCAN 

CHICAGO. ILL. 

.Mr. James W. Duncan is an able exponent of 1876 t<i iSSS Mr. Duncan was associated in prac- 
the law and is regarded in Chicago as one of the tiee with Mr. Andrew J. O'Conor, under the 



representative and foremost leading lawyers of 
the llliiii is bar. 

James W. Duncan is a native son of Illinois, 
lie was hc^ni in La Salle. Januar\- 18. 1849. his 
]);irciUs being Xicliolas and Isabella (McBoyle) 
Duncan. Tliev were natixes of Ireland and Scot- 



firm name of Duncan & 0"Conor. and from 1888 
to 1897 was a member of the well-known firm 
of Duncan & (ulbert, of Chicago. His business 
has always been extensive and embraces litiga- 
tion ill \;arious departments of the law. In 187J 
Mr. Duncan was united in marriage to Miss 



l;md. respectivelv. coming to the Ciiited States Bridget Cody, of La Salle. Illinois, who died Oc- 

tf-ber II. 1898. leaving two children. On July 
]6. 1901. Mr. 1/uncan was married to Mrs. Mary 
v.. Barnett. a native of Chicago. In polities .Mr. 
Duncan is a Democrat, and a member of the Iro- 
(|uois Club. Sheridan Club and Columbus Club. 
.Mr. Duncan stands high at the bar. His 
entire life has been devoted to his chosen pro- 
fession, in which he has attained much eminence, 
and the position he has won is accorded him in 
reco'gnition of his skill and ability. 



in earlv lite and locating at La Salle, Illincjis. 
James W. Duncan attended the common schools 
and later was a student at the L'niversity of Ni- 
agara. .\'ew N'ork. after which he began the stud_\' 
of law in the oflice of E. 1'". Lull, of La Salle. 
In 1S71 he was admitted to the bar and practiced 
liiw ill his native town until i88_'. when he re- 
nni\ed to ()ttawa. lIliiKiis. and where he coii- 
ti'iiued until 1888. when he came to Chicag'o, 
wliicli cit\" he has since made his home. I'^'oiii 



HON. JOSEPH G. CANNON 



D.ANVILLE. ILL. 



Jo-c])li (i. Camion, member of congress from 
the twelfth district of the state of Illinc is. repre- 
senting Irocjuois, Kankakee. Vermilion and Will 
counties, is a lawver bv profession and was 
born at (iuilford. Xi:rth Carolina. ?slay 7. 
1836; was state's attorney in Illinois. I\Iarch 



1 86 1, to December. 1868: was elected to the 
f( rtv-third. forty-fourth, forty-fifth, forty-sixth 
f( rtv-sevciitli, forty-eighth, forty-ninth, fiftieth, 
fifty-lirst. fifty-third, fifty-fourth, fifty-fifth and 
iiftv-sixth congresses, and re-elected to the fifty- 
scxenth congress. 



; ^ :■■■■: 




J^ROMINRNT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



at 



HON. THOMAS CHIPMAN McRAE 

PRESCOTT, ARK, 



Tlioiii.is Cliipman McRac, iiK'nil>cT of con- 
gress from Arkansas for eiglileen years, lawyer, 
was Ixirn at Mt. Holly, Arkansas, December 21, 
JS51, and is the son of Dnncan McRae antl Mary 
Ann ( L'hipman ) ^IcRae. He recei\eil his ednca- 
tiiin at the private schools of Shady (_iro\e, Mt. 
Holly and Falcon, Arkansas; New Orleans, 
Louisiana, and Lexington, Virginia. He left 
school in 1869 and accepted a position in a whole- 
sale mercantile establishment at Shreveport, 
Louisiana. He finished at the Soule Business 
College at New Orleans in 1870, graduated in 
law at the Washington & Lee University, Vir- 
ginia, in 1872, and was admitted toi the bar of 
Arkansas January 8, 1873, and to the L'nited 
Slates supreme court in 1886. He was a mem- 
ber of the state legislature of Arkansas in 1S77, 
in which year the county seat was changed and 
he moved from Rosston to Prescott, whei'c he has 
since practiced his profession. Mr. McRae was 



a member nf the town cnuncil of the iiicurixir.-iled 
tiiwn of I'rescott in 1871;; he was ;i ]iresiilential 
elector in 1880, chairman of the DeniDcratic slate 
convention in 1884, delegate to the national Dem- 
ocratic con\'ention in 1884, Democratic national 
commitleman for .\rkansas from i8(>(i to 1900, 
and was elected to the forty-ninth, fiftieth, fifty- 
first, fifty-second, fifty-third, lifly-fourth, fifty- 
fifth, fifty-si.xth and re-elected to the fifty-seventh 
congresses. 

Mr. ]\IcRae is a memjjer of the Masonic order 
and has taken Knight Templar degrees and 
thirty-second degree Scottish Rite; a Knight of 
Pj-thias, an Odd Fellow' and a Woodman of the 
World. He is a member of the Presbyterian 
church and a leading figivre on the Democratic 
side of the house. 

Mr. McRae was married to Miss Amelia 
^\'hite, December 17, 1874, and they ha\e nine 
children. 



HON. PAUL DILLINGHAM CARPENTER 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 



Paul D. Carpenter, judge of the county court 
of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a man of high char- 
acter and ability. In his hands the iiidi\i<lual 
and state feel that every interest is safe and that 
the law w ill be administered with the broadest in- 



ha\-e carried conxiction to the minds (if his hear- 
ers. He has not alwaxs been a D.cmncrat. but 
became one to remain one on the ((uestion of im- 
perialism. 

Paul D. Carpenter was burn at Milwaukee, 



telligence and vvith a keen regard for equity. .\ Wisconsin January 26, 1867, and is a son of 
man nf unimpeachable character, with :i limad Matthew Hale and Cardline Dillingham Car- 
understanding of the law Judge Caqjenter took ijenter. His education was recei\ed in the Col- 
to the bench the very highest (|ualifications for the leges of Washington. Milwaukee, and New York. 
most responsible office. His political career has He was admitted to the bar at Milwaukee in i8<;i 
been alike able and honnrable. }Ie has long and [)racliced law in that city until he was elected 
been an earnest adxncate nf Demncratic principles judge of the countv court. 

and has delisercd cam])aign addresses in which Judge Car])enlcr is an lioiK ircd member of 

hi.s logical arguments, entertainingU- presented, several social clubs and (irganizatii ms. He is a 



222 PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 

member of Harlan Chapter. "Phi DeUn Phi" lioth in this cdnntry and in Ennjpe. He has vis- 

( CoUimbia Law School. New York) ; member of ited England. Belginm. Holland. France, Spain, 

the Knights of Cohimbns : president of the Jeffer- Italy. Germany, .\ustria, Greece. Turkey. Asia 

son Club, the Democratic club of ^Milwaukee, and Minor. Palestine. Egypt. Algeria, etc. In relig- 



several ether societies and si^cial organizatidns. 
As a rc])resentati\e Democrat his strength and 
intlnence is widely felt in the ci>unsels nf his 
jiarty. 

Judge Carpenter has traveled extensively 

5 



i(,us matters he is a Roman Cathnlic. 

Judge Carpenter was united in marriage N(_)- 
vemher 2^. i8yi. tn Miss Emma h'alk. daughter 
of Franz Falk. They have three children, a 
daughter and two sons. 



ELMER ELLSWORTH BEACH 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



Among the popular and brilliant advocates at 
the bar of Ccx)k connty at tlic present time is 
Elmer Ellsworth Beach. Commencing the prac- 
tice of law in i888. he advanced rapidly in his 
professiiin. displaying those qualifications which 
are e\'er essential to a successful 
career. He soon attracted wide- 
spread attention by the numerous 




litigations brought to a successtul 



issue. He is a forceful speaker, 
his style of argument being at 
once clear, logical and con- 
vincing. Never resorting to clap- 
trap, but in a plain matter-(jf-fact 
manner appeals to the good sense 
and jutlgment of his auditors. The favorable im- 
pression he made upon the public in the early 
years has been strengthened by passing time, as 
he has successfully mastered manv of the must im- 
portant and intricate cases presented to the courts. 
Mr. Beach was born Detyember 19, 1861, at 
Civil Bend, Fremont county, Iowa. His parents 
were Henry Walter Beach :/.nd Eva (Canfield) 
Beach. His early education was obtained in the 
country schools of nortiiern Michig-an. When a 
lad his parents removed tO' Grand Rapids, Michi- 
gan, where he took the usual course in the high 



school of that city, and, when prepared, entered 
the Lniversity of jMichigan, where he graduated 
in 1884. For three years after leaving college 
he was a traveling solicitor, but the profession of 
the law had an attraction for him, and, com- 
mencing its study in Chicago, he was admitted to 
the bar in 1888. 

Mr. Beach has always been a firm advocate of 
Republican principles, and has always done all in 
his power to- promote the growth and advance the 
success of the party. In 1900 he was appointed 
attorney for the North Shore Park District by the 
l>ark commissioners and reappointed in 1901. 
He is a prominent and \-alucd member of several 
social clubs and societies; is a member of the 
Marcpiette and Hamilton Clubs ; the Chicago 
Athletic Association; Park Lodge, No. 843. A. 
F. & A. AI. ; Park Chai)ter. R. A. M. ; Evanston 
Commandery. Knights Tem])lar ; U. A. O. N. 
M. S. He is at present worshipful master of 
Park Lodge, 843, A. F. & A. M. ; deputy grand 
lecturer and district deputy grand master for 
the third tlistrict. 

]\lr. Beach was married in July. 1889, at Ann 
.\rbor, Michigan, to ]\Iiss Jessie E. Taylnr. and 
thcv have one child, a daughter, four years old. 

Jslv. Beach's cpialities of good fellowship 



t'ROMlNENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



223 



have Willi him the Iriendship and reg'ard of all recurds nf merit, and his uprigiit career has been 
with whiini he has lieen Ijroug'ht in cuiitact. His an himnr U> them. Scjcially he is a most genial, 
many hunnrs tnim social organizatiiins are the curdial gentleman. 



RAYMOND W. BEACH 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Raynii 111(1 W. Beach, nf the well-knnwii law 
firm of Beach & Beach, is nnnihered annmg" the 
ai>le members of the Blinois bar, with which he 
has been identified since 1S89. From the begin- 
ning of his career as a practitioner his effort.s 
have been attended with success 
and he has won for himself very 
favorable criticism for the care- 
ful and systematic methods he 
has followed. He stands well 
Loth in the prnfession and with 
the public. Mr, I'>each takes a 
deep interest in the success of 
Republican principles and is an 
earnest worker for that party. 
He is a fine orator, has a read}- cnmmand of lan- 
guage, is logical and entertaining, and never 
fails to make a deep impression on his hearers. 
He has many friends, acquaintances and clients. 
Raymond W. Beach was born Xovember 29, 
iH'13, at Bcrci\-al, Iowa. His parents were Henry 
Walter Beach ;md Eva ( Canfield) I'.each. His ed- 




ucation was acquired in the pulilic schools and at 
the University tA Aliehigan, where he recei\ed 
the degrees oi B. S. (C. E.) and LL. B. He 
graduated from the university in the literary de- 
partment as a civil engineer in 1886, and was 
employed as assistant engineer on the Chicago, 
jMilwaukee & St. Paul Railroad the same year. 
In 1887 and 1S88 he was assistant engineer with 
Knight & Bontecon. in Kansas City, Missouri. 
He graduated from the University of Michigan 
Law Department in 1889 and was admitted to the 
liar in Illinois and Michigan in the fall of that 
year, and has continuously practiced law in Chi- 
cago' since that time. 

Mr. Beach is a member of the Twenty-fifth 
Ward Republican Club, ami is chairman of the 
linblic ser\-ice committee of the Young Men's 
Republican Club of the Twenty-fifth Ward, and 
is also a member of the A. F. & A. M. 

Mr. Beach was married October 4, 1892, to 
Jennie Corinne Healy. They have a daughter 
seven years of age. 



HENRY D. HITT 

OAKFIELD. WIS. 

Henry D. Hitt, director and vice-president id' iif lumnr during his lung residence in the state, 
the First National Bank of Fond du Lac, Wiscon- and is a man who cummands the respect and con- 
sin, is one of Wisconsin's well-known men and fidence of all clas.ses. 



one of its earliest settlers, having moved intO' the 



Henry D. Hitt was born at Danby, Vermont, 



country in 1848, when Wisconsin was still a ter- September 15. 1823. His father, William Hitt, 
ritiiry, settling at Oakfield, Fond du Lac county, was a native of New ^'ork, and his mother, Lydia 
where he still resides. He has held many posts (Smith) Hitt, of Vermont. Mr. Hitt's education 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



was ac(|uii"e(l in the scliouls of Addison cuuiUy, 
Vermont, and his early years were spent in tliat 
state. He tauglit school for four years in V'er- 
nmnt and New York state, but decidinjj npnn the 
west as offering' better inducements to a xnuiiii' 
man. he mused tn Wisconsin when twenty-tix'e 
ii'cars of ag'e, settling in Oakfield, I-'ond du Lac 
cciuntv, cleared up and im])r(i\ed a tarm in the 
oak opening" section, which is now cmisidered 
one of the best in the state. 

Mr, Hill is a farmer by profession and has 
always made that his business. His neighbors 
soon recognized his worth and began to call upon 
hmi to represent thenr in public affairs, and he 
held various town and county offices in the early 
organization of the town and county government. 
He was a member of the Wisconsin legislature in 
1858, and president of the Fond du Lac Agricult- 
ural Societv for ten \ears. He was one of the 



directors for the Wisconsin State Agricultural 
Society for eighteen years, and one of tlie regents 
of Wisconsin State L'niversity six years. Mr. 
Hitt has been iHr a number of vears a director 
and is now \ice-presi(k'nt nf the h'irst Xatioual 
Hank of b'nnd dn Lac. .\lr. I lilt has alwavs l)cen 
a stanch Reiniblican and an acti\e worker since 
the organization of the ])arty, belic\ing that the 
interests of the state and natiiiu are best ser\xnl 
thriiugli the triump-h of Republican principles. 

Mr. Hitt was married June J(>. 1849, to Lydia 
A. Bristal, who was Ixjrn in .\ddison county, 
\'ermont, February 14, 1826. She is a daughter 
of Moses and Mary (Perry) Bristal, who were 
nati\-es of Washington county. New York. 

^Nlr. Hitt's career has been both able and hon- 
oraide, but in the home is where he takes his 
chief pleasure, an<l it is tiiere his finest qualities 
are (li^lllayed. 



MASON B. STARRING 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



^Lason B. Starring, counsel for the Chicago 
Citv Railroad Company, is one of the prominent 
and best-known- attorneys at the Chicag(j bar. 
His prudence in legal affairs and his accom- 
plished oratory have enlisted his services in nuich 
important litigation and won him a position of 
distinction. 

Mason B. Starring was Ijorn May 18, 1859. 
and is a son of Henry J. D. and Alida (Tower) 
Starring, of Chicago. He was educated at the 
Chicago public and high schools. At the age of 
nineteen years he entered the service of the Chi- 
cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, 
where he remained until May, 1885. Mr. Star- 
ring commenced active law work with the Hon. 
William J. 1 i\nes in 1888. and has been associated 
with him and with the Chicago City Railroad 
Connianv since lanuarv of that vear. He is a 



member of the Chicago, Calumet and Athletic 
Chilis and Sons of the American Revolution. He 
has traveled much in his own country. Canada 
and Mexico. In p<:)litics he is independent. 

Air. Starring was united in marriage October 
2y, 1886, with .Miss Helen, daughter of the late 
renowned Rev. David Swing. They have 
two sons, r)a\ id Swing Starring and Mason B. 
Starring, Jr., and reside at their beautiful home, 
60 Lake Shore Dri\e, but spend most of the sum- 
mer months at their country residence situated 
on the shores of the beautiful Lake Geneva, in 
Wisconsin. Their home life is ideal in its pleas- 
ant relations. 

Such, in lirief, is the history of one whose 
professional ability and sterling worth have won 
him marked i)restige in business and social 
circles. 




^^Sr 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



227 



SAMUEL J. SHAEFFER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Samuel J. SIiaciYer, attiiniey at law, is a smi ing Company, of Chicago; Hastcrlik Brothers; 

of Isaac and Leah Wilson Shacfifer, and was born Reinach, Ullman & Company; Holier & Ben.son, 

at St. rt'tcrshurg, Russia, July jS, iSjj. lie and others. 

obtained his early education in a St. Petersburg Mr. Shaefifer is an Odd Fellow, Knight of 

gymnasium, and upon his arrival in this country, Pythias, a Maccabce and a member of several 
in iSSfi, settled at I'ittsliurg, <^lubs. He has traveled extensixely in .America 

l^enns\l\ ania. where he com- and Europe and speaks, reads and writes several 

menccd his business life, first as modern lang-uages. In religious matters he is of 

a clerk in a whulesale dry goods the Hebrew faith, and in pulitics a strong Dcmo- 

linuse. He subsequently became crat but not active, devoting his active time to 

chief registry clerk in the post- his profession. 

office at Pittsljurg, which position Mr. Shaeffer possesses all the essential rjuali- 
lie held until March, 1894. when fications of a most able lawyer, his specialty being- 
he resigned and came tin Chicago. corporation and commercial law. He is a hard 
Always ha\'ing been a hard worker, persevering and industrious, and strong 
student, he mastered the English language, and before both judge and jury. 
in 1S97 entered the Illinois College of Law, of Mr. Shaetter was married November 19, 
Chicag'o, gTaduating from there in 1900, and igoi, tO' Miss Eva Saulson, of Frankfort, Michi- 
was admitted to the bar in the same year and gan, and resides on the north side of the city. He 
immediately entered upnn the practice id" his [jro- has worked for and has succeeded in establishing 
fessioii. for himself a good reputation among members of 
He is attorney for a numlier of large Chi- the bar as well as among his numerous clients 
cago' mercantile houses, including the Best Brew- and friends. 




GENERAL CHARLES F. MANDERSON 

OMAHA, NEB. 

Charles Frederick Mandcrson was born of On the day of the receipt of the news of the 

paternal Scotch-Jrish and of maternal German firing on Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, he enlisted 
ancestry in Philadelphia, PennsyK-ania, February as a private with Captain James Wallace of the 
9, 1837, and received his education in the schools Canton Zoua\es, an independent companv in 
(.f his native city. At the age of nineteen he re- which he had l)een a corporal. Recei\ing per- 
mo\ed to Canton, Stark countv, ()hio. where he mission fmm (jo\ernor Dennison, he. with Sam- 
uel Beatty, an old Mexican soldier, then sheritf 
of Stark county, raised a full company of infantry 
in one dav. Mandcrson being elected and com- 
missioned first lieutenant. In May, iSOi, Beattj", 



studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1859. 
In the spring of i8C)0 he was elected city solicitor 
of Canton. Ohio, and was re-elected the next 
year. 



228 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



tile captain, being made colanel of the Xineteentli 
Oliio Infantry. Mandersun became captain of 
Company j\. of that regiment. He took two 
companies into western Virginia among the first 
troops occupying that section and the Nineteenth 
Ohio became a part of the brigade commanded 
by General Rosecrans in General McClellan's 
Army of Occupation of West Virginia. The 
regiment pariicipated with great credit in the 
first fieUl l)attle of the war. Rich Moimtain, the 
Jith day of July, 1861. Captain Mandersun re- 
ceived special mention in the official reports of 
this battle. In August, 1861, he re-enlisted his 
comi)any fur three years or during the war, and 
in this service he rose througii the grades of 
maju'r, licutenant-col.-r.el and colonel of the Xine- 
teentli Ohio Infantry, and un January i. 1864. 
over four hundretl of the sur\-i\urs of his regi- 
ment re-enlisted with him as veteran \-uluiiteers. 
The battle of Shilob, fought April 7, 1862, during 
which Cajitain Manderson acted as lieutenant- 
colonel, caused his promotion to the rank of 
major, and he was mentioned in the reports of 
General Boyle and General Crittenden for dis- 
tinguished gallantry and e.xceptiunal service. 
General Ruyle says in his report: 

"Cajitain Manderson deported himself with 
cool nerve and courage and personally captured a 
prisoner." 

He was in commaiul of the Nineteenth Oliiu 
Infantry in all its engagements up to and includ- 
ing the battle uf L()\ejuy"s Station on Septem- 
ber 2, 1864. At the battle of Stone River or 
Murfreesboro, fotight December 31. 1862. and 
January 2, 1863. the regiment lost in killed and 
wounded two hundred and thirteen men out of 
fuur hundred and forty-nine taken into the en- 
gagement, or forty-four per cent. It won dis- 
tinguished renown and exceptional mention for 
its participation in this great battle and the offi- 
cial reports gave particular credit to its charge in 
the cedars, which checked the enemv's advance 
upon uur right and restored the line uf battle to 



one thai cuuld be maintained. (ieneral Fred 
KneHer, wlu> commanded the Seventh-ninth In- 
diana, said in his official report : 

"It may not be improper to remark that the 
behavior of my regiment, which had but few op- 
portunities fur drill, and had nut been lung in 
the field, may be attributed in a great measure to 
the splendid conduct of the Nineteenth Ohio, 
]\lajor Manderson commanding, the efifect of 
whose example was not lost upon the ufficers and 
st'ldiers of my regiment." 

General Grider, cummanding the brigade, 
says : 

"The command was splendidly led by its offi- 
cers, among whom was Major Alanderson, who 
exhibited the utmost coolness and daring." 

After the battle of Rich ]\I(.auitain. and dur- 
ing its three years and its veteran scrxice the 
Nineteenth Ohio Infantr)- participated in the fol- 
lowing campaigns and battles: Shilob, Siege of 
Corinth, action near Faniiington. movement from 
Battle Creek, Tennessee, to Lo'uisville, Kentucky. 
Perryville campaign, Crab Orchard, Stone River, 
Murfreesboro, Tullahoma campaign. Liberty 
Gap, Cbickamauga, siege of Chattanooga, Or- 
chard Knob, Mission Ridge. Knoxville campaign, 
.\tlanta cnmijaign, Cassville, Dalles, New Flope 
Church, Picketts Mills, Ackworth Station, Pine 
Knob, Kulp's Farm, Kenesaw, aflfair near Mari- 
etta, crossing the Chattahoutchie river. Peach 
Tree Creek, siege of Atlanta, Ezra Chapel. Jones- 
boro, Lovcjoy Station, Franklin, Xrisluille and 
pursuit of Hood"s army. 

The brigade commander says of the battle 
of New Hope Church, during the Atlanta cam- 
paign in his official report: 

"The second line commanded by Colonel 
Mandersun and composed of the Nineteenth 
Ohio, the Seventy-ninth Indiana and tlie Ninth 
Kentucky, advanced in siilendid style through a 
terrific fire. Officers and soldiers acted most gal- 
laritly. the re,giments of the second line jjarticu- 
larlv. which adxanced in admirable order over 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



229 



very (.lilhcull yruund and iletcrniincdly inaiii- 
t;iintil their gruund against \ery suptrinr num- 
bers. Conspicuous for gallantry and deserving 
of special mention is Colonel C. F. Manderson, of 
the Nineteenth Ohio." 

\\ hile leading his demi-brigade comp<5sed o^f 
the Nineteenth Ohio, the Ninth Kentucky, and 
the Seventy-ninth Indiana in a charge upon the 
enemy's works at Lovejoy Station, Georgia, on 
September 2, i8f)4, in which in a most desperate 
charge the front line of works was taken and 
held, he was severely wounded in the sjjine and 
right side. 

General Kneflar, commanding the brigade, 
says officially : 

"I cannot say too much of Colonel Alander- 
son, who was severely wounded anil always con- 
spicuous for gallantry and skill." 

General Wood, who commanded the division, 
sriys of the charge upon the enemy's works : 

"It was gallantly made and we lost some 
\-a]ual)le officers, among them Colonel Mander- 
son." 

The ball being extracted and much disability 
arising therefrom he was compelled to resign the 
service from wounds in April, 1865, the war in 
the west having practically closed. Previous to 
his resignation he was breveted brigadier general 
of volunteers U. S. A., to date March 13, 1865, 
"for long, faithful, gallant and meritorious serv- 
ices during the war of the Rebellion." This dis- 
tinction came to him on the recummendation of 
army commanders in the field and not by political 
influence. He participated in all the battles in 
which his regiment took part except Chicka- 
mauga when he was absent on detached duty, and 
Franklin and Nashville, where he was absent on 
acciiunt of wounds. 

Returning to Canton, Ohio, he resumed the 
]iractice of law and was twice elected prosecuting 
attorney of Stark countv. declining' a nomination 
fur a third term. In iSdj he came within one 
vote of receiving the Republican iinminatinn fnr 



ci'ngress in the district of Ohio, then conceded to 
be Republican by several thousand majority. 

in November, iSCxj, he removed to Omaha, 
Nebraska, where he still resides and where he 
cjuickly became prominent in legal and political 
affairs. He was a member (if the Nel>raska State 
Constitutional Convention of 1871, and also that 
of 1874, being elected without opposition Ijy the 
liominations of both political parties. He served 
as city attorney of Omaha, Nebraska, for over 
six years, obtaining signal success in the trial ui 
important municipal cases and achieving high 
rank as a lawyer. For many years he has been 
an active comrade in the Grand Army ui the Re- 
public and for three years was Commander of 
the military order of the Loyal Legion of the 
District of Columbia, and has since been com- 
mander of the Nebraska Commandery. He was 
elected United States senator as a Republican to 
succeed Alvin Saunders, his term commencing 
March 4, 1883. He was re-elected to the senate 
in 1S88 without opposition, and with exceptional 
and unprecedented marks of approval from the 
legislature of Nebraska. His term exi)ired March 
3, 1895, and he declined to be a candidate for a 
third term, annotmcing publicly his intention to 
retire fn>m public life. In the senate he was 
chairman of the joint committee on ])rinting and 
an active member of the following committees: 
Claims , private land claims, territories, Indian 
afifairs, military affairs and rules. Many valuable 
rejjorts have Iieen made liy him from these com- 
mittees and he has been a shaping and directing 
force in the way of legislation ui value relating 
to claims, the establishment of the private land 
claims court, the g'overnment of the territories, 
admission of new states, pensions to soldiers, aid 
tfj soldiers' homes, laws for the better organiza- 
tion and improvement of the discipline of the 
L'nitcd States army, and for the imi)rovement and 
belter methods ior the printing of the govern- 
ment. 

In the second session of the tift\-first con- 



2^6 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



j^ress lie was clectetl liy ihe L'nited States senate 
as its president pro tempore without (ipposition. 
it having lieen dechired l)v tlie senate after full 
debate to be a continuing otTice. This unani- 
mous election to the i)residency of the senate was 
without a precedent, ruid was the highest compli- 
lucnt that could be paid by that august body to 
one of its meniljers. Ju ]\larch, 1S93, the po- 
litical coniplection of the senate having changed, 
he resigned the presidency of the senate, after 
serving in that capacity for three years and was 



succeeded bv Hon. Ishani (_i. Harris, of Tennes- 
see, (icneral .Manderson retired from the senate 
Marcli 3, 1895, ''""^1 being tendered the position 
c)f general solicitor of the Burlington System of 
]\ailroads west of the Alissouri ri\-er, entered 
upon the duties of the place on .\pril i, 1895, 
continuing his residence in Omaha, Nebraska. In 
1899, be was \ice-president of the American Bar 
Association, and acted as president at its annual 
meeting, at which he was elected as its president, 
serving- as such in 1900. 



JOHN SUMNER RUNNELLS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



John Sumner Runnells, who has been a mem- 
ber of the Chicago bar during the past fourteen 
years, was born in New Hampshire, and is a de- 
scendant of the fourth generati(jn of the last sur- 
vivi>r of the battle of Bunker Hill. 

Kearetl in New England, Mr. Runnells 
became a student in Amherst College when only 
si.xteen vears of age, and was graduated from that 
institution with highest honors, both in schtilar- 
ship and extemporaneous speaking and debate. 
His law studies were pursued at Dover, New 
Hampshire, and in 1867 he removed to Iowa, 
where he became private secretary to the go\-er- 
nor of that state, after which, in 18(19, he went 
to England under a consular appointment by 
Ceneral Grant. Returning to Iowa in 1871, Mr. 
]\unnells was admitted to tlie bar. and entered 
upon the practice of his [irolession in Des 
Moines. Four years later he was elected reporter 
of the suprane court. The duties of this office, 
which during his incumbency included the editing 
ard ])ublishing- of eighteen \-olunies of the court's 
decisions, he performed in addition to bis regular 
])ractice. In 1881 he was a])pointed United 
States district attoi-ui\- for Iowa bv President 



Arthur, a position he filled with credit for the fol- 
Imving four vears. 

Almost from the begining of his law practice 
Mr. Runnells has gix'en his attention largely to 
corporation law, and his time has been occupied 
almost exclusively with railway litigation and 
suits involving telegraph law. A [jrominent case, 
;dthough in another branch of jurisprudence, 
which attracted much interest because of its im- 
portance, was that involving the constitutionality 
of one branch of the prohibitory law of loava. 
This suit he successfullv carried through the state 
courts and idtimately won it in the Supreme 
Court of the United States. 

While in Iowa .Mr. Runnells became actively 
interested in political (juestions and took a promi- 
nent ]jlace among the leaders of the Republican 
|!arty, ser\-ing as chairman <)f the state central 
committee in 1879 and 1880. He was a delegate 
to the national convention of his party in the 
latter year, an<l was a memijer of the national 
committee from 1880 to 1884. During his resi- 
dence in Chicago be has taken no pn-minent part 
in politics, but is cleepl)- interested in the political 
problems of the day mid the success of the \)\\v\y 



PROMINENT MEN OE THE GREAT WEST 



233 



whose princiijlcs lie espouses. He is now general L'liion League, Literary, Eellowshii). I'nioii and 

eounsel of tlie Pullman Company. He is an en- Manpiette Clulis; of the last two he has 

tertaining. forceful and elfupient pulilic speaker, heen president. He is ;dso a memher of the 

whose grace of diction and ready ccmniand of Plniversity Ckib of New York. 1:1 e is a man of 

language lias charmed many hearers. He is fre- pleasing- jiersonality, renial and approachable, 

(|uently called ujion to deli\er public addresses, and in social as well as political circles occupies 

having' performed such a service at the dedication an eminent position. He is the senior member of 

of the Auditorium and at the Grant banquet in the well-known law firm of Runnells & Purry, of 

iiSyj. He is a valued member of the Chicago Chicago. 



WILLIAM HARVEY AUSTIN 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 

^V. H. Austin, senior member of the linn of waukce county, Wisconsin. In 1889 he was a 
Austin. Fehr & Gehrz, attorneys at law, of Mil- nx^mber of the school board, and in 1890 assist- 
waukce, Wisconsin, was borni at Binghamton, ant city attorney for Milwaukee. In 1891 he was 



Xtw York, October 22, 1859. He came to Wis- 
consin in i8(')8, and educated himself bv night 
study. His first employment was at the age of 
thnieen, and he has teen a bu.sy man ever since. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1879. In 1880 and 
1 88 1 he was assistant district attorne}' for Mil- 



city attorney. In 1893 '^"^ 1894 he was a mem- 
ber of the state assembly of W'isconsin, and in 
i8(;5 toi 1898 a member of the state senate. 

Mr. Austin was married in 1882 to Miss 
Janet F. AIcLean. They have four children, 
William M., Robert H., Janet Grace and Allen S. 



CHARLES R. SMITH 

MENASHA, WIS. 

Mr. Charles R. .Smith, president of the L'niversity, New Jersey, from which he gradu- 

Menasha \\'i.>oden Ware Company, of Menasha, atctl in the class of 1876. 

Wisconsin, has been identified with the commer- After graduation he almost immediately en- 

cial interests of tliat city for many years. He has gaged in lumbering and afterward in the mami- 

gained great prominence in business circles ami facture of wooden ware and c(H)perage. The 

is regarded as one of the representative business business at first was started in a small wav and 

men of the state. gradually enlarged until it reached its present 

^Ir. Smith was born at Mena.sha in 1855, and great proixirtions. The company's success is 

that city and the state are proud of his .success. la.rgely due to the energy displayed bv Mr. Smith 

He is a son of Elisba D. and Julia .\. (Mowry) and to his keen business abilitv. 

Smith, llis earl\- educitiou w;is .■ic(piircd at the i'oliticallv ]\lr. Smith is ;i Rei)nblican. ;md 

common and high schools of ]\k'n;ish;i, which li.'is always supported his p.arty. He is ;i man of 

was supplemented l)y a course at the i'rinccton strong char.acter, fearless in defense of what he 



?34 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



l.elicves tn lie ri.tjht, and his inlluence is a pntciit coinniands the respect of all. Mr. Smith was 

factor ill the CDiiimunitv. He has many ac- married in June, 1888, to Miss Jennie W. Math- 

C|iiaintances and friends. J lis social qualities cu'son. They ha\-e three children : Mowry Smith, 

render him popular, while his genuine worth SyKia W. Smith and Carlitcjn R. Sniitii. 



JOHN E. WATERS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

John K. \\'aters, one of the representative when he removed t<;) Chicago and associated 

members of the legal professirju in Chicago, has himself with Mr. Joseph W. Hiner, under 

been aclixelv engaged in the practice of law in the firm name of Hiner & W'hters. which 

that city since 1894, and has attained an enviable partnership still continues. During the year 

p.osition before the Cook county bar. Liberal 1894 Mr. Waters took the post-graduate course 

educational advantages have well at the Chicago College of Law tO' perfect 




fitted him for life's duties, and as 
he is a shrewd lawyer, strong 



advocate, and of fine literary 
ability and taste, his success has 
been marked. 

John E. Waters was born 



himself in the comniDU law practice, ha\ing 
previouslv folhnved his jjrofessioii in a code 
state. 



Mr. Waters is a valued memlicr of several 
social organizations or clubs, and a meml)er of the 
Chicago Bar Association. He was second lieu- 
June 23, i86t, at Fond du Lac, tenant of Company L First Regiment, Minnesota 
A\'isconsin, and is a son of John National Guard, from 1889 to 1893, pi"eviously 
and Susan Kelly Waters, of that having served four years in the \\'isco'nsin Na- 
tional Guard at Fond dn Lac. He is widely 
traveled, having visited luigland, Scotland, Ire- 
land, Wales, France. Italy, Germany, Belgium 
and Holland and also throughout the United 
States and Canada. Politicailv he is a Democrat 



city — both now living. His edtiction was re- 
ceived at the common and high schools c)f Fond 
du Lac, Wisconsin, supplemented by a course in 
the Columbia College Law School, of New 
\'ork, and at the Universitv of Minnesota. 



He was admitted to the bar December 4, and has always supported his party, .\mong his 
1883, and located at Minnea])olis, ^Minnesota, ])ersonal friends he is af^'ahle, engaging and cour- 
where he ])racticed law until May i, 1894, teous tiv all. Mr, Waters is a bachelor. 



PORTUS BAXTER WEARE 

CHICAGU, ILL. 



Tortus Baxter W'eare was born at Otsego, 
Allegan county, Michigan, January i, 1842, and 
is descended from one of the oldest colonial fam- 
ilies, the first of the name in this covnitrv having 
1>een Nath.-miel Weare, who was settled in the 
town of Newberry, New Hampshire, as early as progenitor, Nathaniel Weare, was a soldier of the 



1 0^8. h'rom him have descended many wlio have 
attained eminence in military, professional and 
commercial life. 

I', i'.. W'eare's grandf;ither. John Weare, who 
was of the sixth generation in descent from the 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



^35 



war of 1812. His wife, wliose maiden name was Weare Land and Live Stock Company was or- 
Cynthia Ashley, was tlie daugliter of Colonel' ganized, which at one time iiad as high as lifty 

thousand cattle in northern Wyoming and east- 
ern Montana. Mr. Weare next engaged in the ' 



Samuel Ashley, an officer of the colonial govern- 
nxnt, .'Hid the head of an influential family of 
wealth. 

Ji>]in W'carc,' Jr., the father of Portus B. 
Weare, was one of the early pioneers of the west. 
Soon after his marriage in 1841 to Miss Martha 
Parkhurst, a nati\-e of Vermont, he moved into-a 
log cahin in the heart (;f the Michigan wilderness, 
where the only neighliors were the Pottavvatomies 
and Winnebagoes, who occassionally visited the 
homestead. Here it was that Portus B. \Veare 
was born, and it was in these surroundings that 
he passed the first few years of his life. When he 
was three \-ears of age he went with his parents 
to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he grew up and re- 



grain business. He maintained sixty-five sta- 
lious for storing grain in Illinois. Iowa and .\'e- 
l)raska, and he also built the Globe Elevator, of 
\\'est Superior, having a capacity of five million 
bushels. He has also of late years been manager' 
of the Chicago Railway Terminal Elevator Com- 
pany, comprising eight of the largest" local ele- 
vators, whose capacity exceeds ten million bush- 
els. His next venture was the foundation of the 
suburb of Morton Park, six miles west of the 
ciiurt house of Chicago, where, in ten vears, a 
model town, with all the advantages of city life, 
lias been evolved. Of late vears Mr. Weare has 



ceivcd the most of his schooling, but was still only • been most conspicuous as one of the foremost men 

interested in the development of Alaska. 

The North American Transportation and 
Trading Company was organized in 1891. and in . 
the summer of 1892 Mr. Weare and his son, 
W. W. Weare, took from Puget Sound to St. 



fairlv in liis teens when he eniered upon the ad- 
venture ms and nomadic life of a pioneer trader. 
His frequent trips into what was then the Sioux 
country, on the upper Missouri, and his life and 
experiences amid hardships and dangers of the 



frontier have left its impression on his character. Micliael's Island, at the mouth of the Yukon, all 
He still loves the freedom of western life. It ap- 
peals to him as the luxuries of civilization can 
never do, and it was this longing for the prairies 
and the mountains that led him, in later life, to 
enter upon the development of .Maska. as the 
f( under of the North American Transportation 
and Trading Conrianv. In iH(>2 Mr. Weare came 
to Chicago and cngagxd in the grain and com- 
mission business in connection with Henry W'. 
Rogers. Jr. Three years later he commenced 
business under the name of P. B. Weare & Com- 
]'any, which was the foundation upon which has 
been erected the present Wieare Commission Com- 
pany. At first the firm was largely engaged in 
exjwrting prairie chickens from the western states 
to England, Gernianv and Er;\ncc. Later, when 
the country became nmrc settled and this business 
was no longer flourishing, the firm handled buf- 
• falo robes. Time ]iut an end to this also, and the 



the timber, materials and machinery for the five- 
hundred-tons burden river steamer 'T'. B. 
Weare," which was built and launched in time to 
take a cargo from an ocean steamer and to ascend 
the Yukon that fall, '['he result of this enterprise 
was to open up rich and extensive gold placer 
mines, as well as quartz, coal, copper and other 
materials, to the people of the world. This ccmi- 
pany is now represented in nearly every station 
in .Alaska. 

Mr. Weare has been a ])rt)minent factor in 
the histiiry and growth of Chicago, .\side frum 
his large business interests here, he has taken 
an active part in the development of its institu- 
tions. He is one of the organizers and a member 
it the first board of trustees of the Illinois Club, 
and has been identified with the Chicago- Board of 
Trade since 1862. He is also a member of the 
New York Produce Exchange, the Lawyers' Club 



236 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



of New York, tlie Art Institute, the Union Sophia Ann ( Darby) Risky, of Cedar Rapids, 
League and Chicago Cluhs, of Chicago. Iowa. Twn cliildren have l)een horn to them, 
lanuary 2, 1866. ^Ir. Weare was married to William Walker, who is in busines.s with liis fa- 
Susan Wheelock Riskv. daughter of Levi and ther, and Nellie Darling, who died in 1892. 



WILLIAM BURRY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

AX'illiam Burry. junior member of the law & Burry. Since 1877 he has been a member of 

iirm of Runnells & Biu-ry, of Chicago, was born the firm nf Runnells & Burry. Mr. liurry has 

at .Montreal. Canada, lanuarv 10. 185 1. and is always been a very successful lawyer and a \ery 

the son of William Burrv and Mary A. Burry. busy erne, deeply interested in his profession and 

He was educated at Harvard College, graduating in the large cases with which his firm is engaged, 

with the class of 1874, receiving the degree of principally corporation law. 

B. A. Immediately after graduation he came to He is a member of several clubs, among them 

Chicago and studied law in the office of Leonard the Chicago. University, Union, Onwentsia and 

Swett. and was admitted to the bar of Illinois in Harvard. He is a Democrat and at times has 

September, 1875. He then entered the office of been active in local politics. Mr. I'iurry was 

Isham & Lincoln, and for a time was a member married June 30, 189(3, to Jenny R. King, of 

of the firm, which was known as Isham, Lincoln Chicago. 71iey have one child, William, Jr. 



HON. CHARLES FREEMONT COCHRAN 

ST. JOSEPH, MO. 



Hon. Charles F. Cochran, member of con- 
gress from the fourth district of Missouri, was 
born at Kirksville, Adair county, Missouri, Sep- 
tember 2-], 1848, Ijeiiig a son of William A. and 
Laetitia Cochran. 

He was educated in the common schools of 
Weston, Missouri, and Atchison. Kansas. He 
resided in Atchison, Kansas, from i860 to 1885. 
He is a jiractical printer and was editor of the 
Atchison Daily Patriot during the campaign of 
1868 when yet a minor. Studied law while en- 
gaged in the newspaper work and was admitted 
to the bar at .\tchisi n in 1873; served fmn- years 
as i)rosecuting attorney of .\tcliison cmintw Kan- 
sas, ;md foiu" vears as a member of the Missouri 



senate; and practiced law until 1885, when he 
became editor of tlie St. Joseph Gazette, and filled 
that position until elected representative, in 1896; 
was elected to the fifty-fifth and fifty-si.Kth con- 
gresses, and re-elected to the fifty-seventh con- 
gress. He is proud of the fact that the office 
came to him unsolicited, as he ne\er rei|uested a 
person to \'<)te for him <.ir asked the support of 
any man. He is a Democrat and a worker in 
b.is pariv ranks. He is a Knight of Pythias and 
a "Red Man." 

Mr. Cochran was married April 2~. 1874. to 
Miss Louise M. Webb, of Leavenworth. Kansas. 
They ha\e a son, aged twenty-five, who resides 
on a fruit f;inn in southern Missom-i. 





'lOyv^ ^A^rrvj 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



239 



HON. GEORGE W. MILLER 

CHICAGO. ILL. 

Hon. George \\'. I\Iiller was horn on a farm lit'came junior memlx-r of tlic law firm uf Mann, 

near Gilman, Illinois, Januar_v 12. 1869, and is a Hayes & Miller, a connection that was continued 

son of Rufus Irl. and Ellen M. (Hale) Miller, the up to- the time of the death of Hon. Frederick W. 

f( rmer a nati\-e of Ohio and the latter of Massa- C. Hayes, when the firm's name was changed to 

chuset'.s. They both cftme tO' Illinois in early Mann & Miller, which ciiunectinn still continues.' 

childhoi.d, and the father of our subject, after The firm occr.pies a leading- position in profes- 

rcaching" his majority, turned his attention to sional circles. 

agricultural pursuits. Later, howe\'er, he en- For six years Mr. Miller has been an active 

gaged in the nursery Ijusiness for a number of meiuber of the Chicago bar. In October, 1897, 

years, and has for the last few years been con- he was appointed a master in chancery of the 

nccted with the insurance business. He has superior court of Cnok ci<untv. which is an un- 

always been a prominent Democrat, voting always precedented honor, for few men nf his years ha\-e 

for tlie candidates of his party, with the exception ever held that position. 

of the years i860 and 1864, when he su])ported Politically Mr. Miller is opposed tu his father. 

Abraham Lincoln for president. His father was lieing widely recognized as an unswerving Re- 

also an ardent advocate of Democratic prin- jniblicau. He is a most effecti\'e campaign 

ciples until i860, at whicli time he also allied his siieaker, instructive, entertaining, logical and con- 

sirength with that of tlie Republican party, and -vincing, and his services in that particular are in 

ci.>ntinued thereafter tO' follow its banner until his great demand. His powers of oratory make him 

death. fluent and graceful, and while entertaining his 

Upon the home farm George W. ]\Iiller spent hearers he at the .same time appeals to their reason 

his early years, and in the school of Gilman ac- in a manner which mikes his words not easily for- 

(|uired his literary education, graduating from thf gotten. 

Gilman high school in 1887, when eighteen years His legislative service has been brilliant and 
of age. In 1889 he entered the Union College of honorable. In the fall (if 1894 be was elected a 
Law at Chicago, where he remained a student for member of the house of representatives from the 
(!ne year. He then went to Washington. D. C. third senati rial district, and in January, 1895, 
From 1890 to December, 1891. he was one of the took his seat as a member of the thirty-ninth gen- 
chief clerks of the census bureau, engaged in eral assemlily rf the state of Illinois. He had sev- 
preparing the eleventh census of the United cral important d mmittee appointments, serving 
States. In Sei)tember. 1890, he joined the senior as a member of the committee on statutorv revis- 
class of the law departiuent of the Columbian ion. the judiciary, and on state and municipal crvil 
University, and completed his regular two-years service ref< rm. During the special session of the 



course in one year, graduating June i, iS()i. Re- 
signing his position in the census bureau in Sep- 
temlier of the same )ear, he came to Chicago and 
accepted a clerkship in the law office of the Hon. 
James R. Mann, memlier of congress, continuing 
in that capacity until January :, 1894, when be 



thirty-ninth assembly he was a member of the 
"steering" committee. He introduced into the 
house and had charge of the Torrens bill while it 
was pending, ,'dso the cmnitv ci\il service bill and 
a bill to revise the pharmac\- laws. All these bills 
were passed and became laws. I'^'om the coni- 



240 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



iricnccnient of Iiis senaturial contest he was an 
earnest and outspoken supporter of Shelby M. 
Collum for re-election to the United States senate. 
In 1896 Mr. Miller was re-elected, and in Jan- 
uary, 1B97, he became a member of the fortieth 
general assembly. In that session he was ap- 
pointed chairman of the committee on the judicial 
department and practice and was a member of the 
committees on civil service, finance, live stock and 
dairying, elections and statutory revision. He 
introduced and was instrumental in securing the 
passage of the bill to consolidate the supreme 
C(nu't at Springfield. For twenty-five years simi- 
lar bills have been introduced at almost every ses- 
sion, only tO' meet defeat, and many of Mr. Mil- 
ler's friends regard his successful conduct of this 
!)ill through the house as the most important work 
he has performed during his two terms O'f serv- 
ice. He received congratulations upon his work 



from all parts of the state and won high ecomi- 
ums from the bar. When the supreme cnurt de- 
clared the Torrens law unconstitutional he again 
introduced and had charge in the house of a sec- 
ond Torrens bill, so amended as to comply with 
the supreme court decision. This became a law. 
He also introduced a bill to establish liranch a}>- 
pellate courts in Illinois, and in the house had 
charge and secured the passage of a bill providing 
for an increase in the salaries of the supreme court 
judges from five thousand dollars to seven thou- 
sand dollars a year. Mr. Miller is recognized as 
one of the strongest debaters in the legislature. 

On the 4t!i of August, 1892, Mr. Miller was '' 
united in marriage to Miss Carrie E. Sproule, of 
Chicago, and in social circles they occupy a high 
position. 

Mr. Miller is a member of the Knights of 
Pvthias fraternitv and the Roval Leaeue. 



MICHAEL J. HAISLER 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 

Michael J. Haisler, proprietor of the large store when twelve years old. At the age of seven- 
transfer company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is teen he aimiuenced with his brother-in-law as 
pcrhajjs one of the best-known men nf tliat city, bnokkecper in a butcher-shop tO' learn the butch- 
where he has resided since 1855. The l)usiness er's trade. He came to Milwaukee in June, 1S55, 
success which he has achieved has been won and W( irked in a ])acking-housc fur about seven 
through his own labor and merit, years, then bought a horse and drav and started 
as he started his career when a the teaming business that has since grown to its 
mere lioy of twelve years of age, present large proportions anfl which furnishes 
and, step by step, through the employment to many men, and includes heavy 
hard school of experience, and by teaming, cartage and transferring of freight frdm 
tireless industry, won his own ;il] tlie railroads. Mr. Haisler is also projjrietor 
wav to affiuence. 

Michael J. Haisler was born 

August 29. 1S3C), near Wurtz- 

])urg, (iermany, and is the son of Michael George 

Haisler and Marie .\nna Benkent Haisler. He 




of the Palisades Stone Company, quarry near 
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, one of the large stone com- 
panies of the west. 

Mr. Haisler was a member of the Light 
Horse Squadron for about two vears, in 1885 
was educated in a ]);n"ochial school in Buffalo, and 1886; member of the county board in 1887 
New York, and first started work in a dry goods and 1888, and chairman of the board in 1888. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



24' 



lie lias also been trustee of the Asylum of been for many years a steadfast Rcpuljlican, bc- 

L'linuiic Insane since 189C1. lie is a member cif litving fully in the principles of that party, 
several societies, the Merchants' and Manufac- Mr. Haisler was married in Buffalo, New 

turers' Association, the Old Settlers' Clulj. the Vcrk, "March 2^, 1856, to Miss Sarah M. Gabel- 

Masonic fraternity since 1871, and in which he man. born in Baden, Germany, in 1833. They 

has beld prominent offices in all l)odies. Me has ha\e ten children li\'ing, six girls and fcyj.r boys. 



SAMUEL WARE PACKARD 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



^ Few members of the legal fraternity have ever 
won the distinction of success in so many differ- 
ent directions while strictly within tlie legitimate 
domain of the duties of a practicing lawyer a.s 
has fallen to the lot of Mr. Samuel Ware Pack- 
ard, of Chicago, Illinois. He began practicing in 
the United States supreme court at the age of 
twenty-six, and the thoroughness with which he 
prepared cases, coupled with a very high order of 
legal ability, made him remarkably successful 
there. Especially notable was his procedure in 
what was known as the "Yankton bond case," 
which has become famous not only in the legal 
but in the civil and political history of the United 
States. Yankton county, Dakota, had issued 
bonds in the sum of two hundred thousand dollars 
for railroad aid ; but, after their sale, the supreme 
court of the territory had declared them invalid. 
Mr. Packard being then retained by the bond- 
holders, carried the case to the United States 
supreme conrt, where he succeeded in obtaining a 
reversal of the territnrial court's decision. In 
trying to enforce collection Mr. Packard found 
iiis way obstructed by certain special acts of the 
territorial legislature of Dakota, passed with a 
view to preventing taxes l)eing levied to pay the 
judgment. Shortly afterward, in 1882. a strong 
effort was made to ])rocure the admission of South 
Dakota as a state, and large delegations visited 
Washington city to urge the passage of the i>end- 



ing bill. .\ protest to congress against the admis- 
sion of the territory as a state was urged by Mr. 
Packard, on the ground that, as its legislature had 
aided and abetted an act of repudiation, it (,ught 
not to be so honi>red until purged of suc'.i dis- 
grace: and upon that basis so strong a sentiment 
did he succeed in creating against the admission 
bill that it was found impossible to secure votes 
enough to pass it. As a result, the territory did 
not obtain the dignity of statehood until a refund- 
ing act was passed, and the matter for which Mr. 
Packard had so strenuously fought had been satis- 
factorily adjusted. While Mr. Packard before 
diis had a local reputation for being very re- 
sourceful in a legal contest, this method of pro- 
cedure tO' enforce the collection nf a debt was 
something so unique and original that he at once 
acquired a national fame for his wonderful fer- 
tility of resources. 

Another notable victory which gave Mr. Pack 
ard great renown, not only in this country but 
also in Eumpe, was won by him in getting the 
lace e.xperts admitted who had been brought to 
this country by Rev. John Alex. Dowie, and who 
were ordered deported by the Philadelphia imnii- 
gratii.'u officials, on the ground that the alien con- 
tract labiir law forbade their admission. Mr. 
Packard appealed the case to Washington, and 
his argument there, ^vhich securctl their admis- 
sion, was pronounced by Secretary Gage and 



242 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



otlier government nfficials to be one of the ablest 29, 1849, son of Theophilus and Elizabeth Par- 

and most convincing tlic\- e\er heard. sons (Ware) Packard. On Jnne j^, 1S74. he 

Mr. Packard, wild was admitted to the bar of was united in marriage with Clara .\. h'isk, (if 

the supreme court of Illinois on August 16, 1867, L( nibard, llliiii)is. and ihey ha\e three daughters 

was born at Shell.iurne, Massachusetts, November and two sons. 



JULIUS ROSENTHAL 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Mr. Julius Rijsenthal was born September district court in 1859 Mr. Rosenthal became a 
17, 1828, in Liedolsheim, Grand Duchy of citizen of the United States by naturalization, 
Baden. Germany. lie remained at home attend- and during the same vear GoveriKir W. H. Bis- 
ing the village schodl until twelve years of age. sell a])pointed him a notary puljlic. and in De- 
when. he was placed in the Lyceinn at Rastadt. cember of that year the governor appointed him 
graduating after eight years of study. He then ]nil)lic administrator of Cook county. Illin<iis. a 
entered the University of Hcidellnirg, where he positidu he held twenty-four years (until 1884). 
gave twcj years to the study df law: fnun whence After he had filled the ijusitiim twentv years a 
bo pr(.)ceeded to the l'ni\crsity of Freil)urg, new law iust ])assed liecame dperati\e. making 
wiiere he remained si.\ months, finishing with the positiin a fdur-\-ear term office, the go\-- 
the regular course of jurisprudence. He de- ernor having the appointing power. In recog- 
termined upon coming td the Ignited States, and nition cf his able and faithful administration of 
h'Uded in Pdrtland, Maine, in April. 1854, then the affairs of the i:>ffice for so manv years, the 
])rdceeded tn New V< 'rk City, and after many gm-ernor rea])]idinted him puljlic administratdr 
attempts to find a suitable position, he engaged for four years more under the new law. 
in peddling Yankee notions, traveling through a In i860 Mr. Rosenthal was admitted to the 

part of New ^"ork aud Connecticut. bar, and later formed a partnershij) with L. 

.Mr. Rosenthal had been in this country but Ih-entano, later American consul at Dresden; a 
a few months when he met, on his way to New year later he entered intO' partnership with Hon. 
York, yiv. R. K. Swift, a prominent Chicago E. W. McComas, ex-lieutenant governor of Vir- 
banker, whi; took an interest in him, and offered ginia, which lasted two years, being succeeded 

by a [jartnerslii]) with William A. Hopkins, 
which Continued until 1866. 

Octoljer c), i8f)f), he formed a partnershii) 
with Mr. .\. W, I'ence, which continued until 
.May, 1887, a period of nearly twenty-one years. 
In Novemljer, 1897, Mr. l\osenthal was ap- 
])ointcd b\" the supreme court of Illinois a mem- 
ber of the first board of bar examiners of the 
state of Illinois for a term of two years. Mr. 



him a position in his hank and advanced him fifty 
dollars to settle up his affairs. Mr. Rosenthal 
reached Chicago a week later and was installed 
in the bank in .\ugust, 1854, where he served his 
employer faithfully until January. 1858, a few 
months after Mr. Swift's failure. 

Mr. Rosenthal llien opened an office in the 
Metropolitan block in Chicago and started in 
business as a crnxeyancer. ha\ing acrpiired a 
thorough knowledge of the business during his Rosenthal was one of a committee of the State 
service in the loan and trust deiiartment of the liar .Association to memorialize the supreme 
bank. At the October term of the United States court on tlie subject of admission to the bar, and 



■-.:-' fJM^, 




^ 




lie b, ^5''.ry Ttl.>iD"J~ thicQ.C- 



^^Vv^Ca/\^ ("WOC^vJk/X^^^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



245 



continued in his efforts U' that end until the su- 
jireme court had, in XoN'emljer, J 893. promul- 
gated its rule regarding admission in harmony 
with the wishes of the State Bar Association. 

For many }ears, from 1N39 to Octoher 9, 
1871, Air. Rosenthal's office was at 38 and 
40 La Salle street, Chicago, and with the excep- 
tion of a short period directly after the great 
fire his offices ha\-e ever since heen on the corner 
of Clark and Monroe streets. ?^Ir. Rosenthal 
has repeatedly ])een chosen to till various respon- 
sihle otlices. Among them of a benevolent char- 
acter may be mentioned the German Relief So- 
ciety, of which he was a director at the time of 
the J871 fire; the United Hebrew Relief Associ- 
ation; and the Chicago Relief and Aid Society. 
Mr. Rosenthal takes a deep interest in American, 
(icrman and Jewish charity aft'airs. In 1867 he 
was elected to fill the position of librarian in the 
Chicago' Law Institute, and which position lie 
held by yearly re-election until 1876; in 1878 he 
was elected president of the institute, and thence- 
forth remained a member of the board of direc- 
tors up to the present time; again holding the 
office of librarian since about 1886 up to the pres- 
ent time. 

In 1872 Mayor Medil! appointed him a mem- 
ber of the board of directors of the Chicago Pub- 
lic Library, and he was reappointed by Mayor 



Cohin in July, 1874, for a term of three years, 
but owing t'o stress of business matters he re- 
signed the position in July, 1875. 

Politically he is a Republican, and has been 
since 1856, being' the first secretary of the first 
I'^remont Club e\-er organized in Chicag'o. .\s 
an occasional writer he may lie classed with the 
critics, his contributions having attracted con- 
siderable attention. He stands high at the bar, 
isptcialK" in real i)ro])erty and probate practice. 

Mr. Rosentlial is a valued member of the 
Sinai congregation. Dr. Emil G. Hirsch, Rabbi. 
He is also a member of the Union League Club 
and the Literary Club, and for many years has 
been a mcml)er and one of the lioard of directors 
of the German Altenheim (Old People's Home), 
ill which he takes a special interest, and is aLso 
interested in many other charitable associations. 

Mr. Rosenthal was married in 1856 to Miss 
N'ette Wolf, of Chicago'. They have four chil- 
dren, two daughters, Mrs. Percy G. Ullnian, of 
Chicago, and Mrs. George Pick, of Milwaukee, 
and two sons, James Rosenthal, of Rosenthal, 
Kurz & Hirschl, lawyers, of Chicago, and Mr. 
Lessing Rosentlial, both married. Mr. Lessing 
Rosenthal is the jiresent partner of his father. 
Mr. Rosenthal, now nearly seventy- four years 
of age, enjoys liis acti\-e law practice as much as 
ever. 



HON. WILLIAM A. REEDER 

LOGAN, KAN. 

Hon. William .\. Rceder, member of C(jn- cipal ( f the P.cloit public schoi.ls; ino\-ed to Kan- 
gress from the si.xth district of Kansas, was sas and took a claim in Mitchell count}" in 1871, 
J)orn August 28, 1849, in Cumberland county, and has resided continuously since in this con- 
Pennsylvania; when four years of age emigrated gressional district; during his residence at Beloit 
with his parents to Ipava, Fulton county, Illinois, was married to Miss Eunice H. .\ndrews, and 
where, at the age of fourteen years, he began shortl}- after the date of their marriage, .\ugust 
teaching in the public schools, a vocation he fol- 18. 1876, engaged in the banking business in the 
lowed until thirty years of age. the last ten years city of Logan, Kansas, where he at jirescnt re- 
of his work being in Kansas, where he was prin- sides; in 1890, in |iarlnersliip with A. II. Ellis 



246 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



and J. J. \\ iltrnut, purchased an extensive tract gress and re-elected to tlie fifty-seventli congress, 

of land on the Soloninn ri\er and established the politically Mr. Reeder is a Republican, while in 

largest irrigation farm in the state of Kansas, religious matters he affiliates with the Meth- 

which is now operated as a cattle and iiog ranch; odist church. He is one nf the snlid men nf tlie 

in 1898 he was elected to the fifty-sixth cmi- state of Kansas. 



IRA B. SMITH 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 

One of the best known and most active busi- Ira B. Smith is a son of the late Governor 
ness men of Milwaukee is Mr. Ira B. Smith, William E. Smith, of Wisconsin, governor from 
senior member of the large wholesale grocery 1878-1882. Ele was born at Fox Lake, Dodge 
house of Smith, Thorndyke & Brown Company, county, Wisconsin, in 1852. Coming to }ilil- 
uith branch house at Marinette. He is also waukee as a young man he in 1872 engaged in the 
president of the Merchants and wholesale grocery business with the firm of Men- 
Manufacturers' .Association of del. Smith & Co., in which he continued until 
!\!il waukee, presiilent of the 1897, when Mr. Mendel retired. The firm name 
Wholesale Grocers' Association was changed to Smith, Thorndyke & Brown 
of Wisconsin, a member of the Company, Mr. Smith being the senior member. 
executive committee of the Na- Mr. Smith is a Republican in politics, and a mem- 
tionrd Wholesale Grocers' Asso- ber of the Presbyterian church, 
cialion, trustee of Milwaukee- He was married December 12, 1877, to Miss 
Downer College, a member of Emma L. (iarrison, of St. Louis, daughter of 
the board of trustees of the Daniel L. Garrison, formerly president of the 
Northwestern Mutual Life In- Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. They have 
surance Company and a member of its finance three children, Mrs. Sherburn M. Becker, Miss 
committee, and is connected with many other im- JMnma Noye Smith and Ciarnson Schuyler 
portant social and bene\iilent societies and asso- Smith. 
ciati(.ins of his state. 




DAVID WELLS BRITTON 

GREEN BAY, WIS 

One of the best-known and highly respected Large shipments are constantly being made to 
men of Green Bay, Wisconsin, is David W'ells twelve different states and in Canada, and one 
Britton, for over fifty years a manufacturing hundred and thirty men arc employed constantly 
cooper of that city, and whose works are the in the manufacture of the product. The immense 
largest of their kind in the west. The plant occu- yards are always full of the finest manufactured 
pies a tract of nearly fifteen acres and is finely stock and his shops are equipped with e\ery de- 
situated for both lake rmd r;iil transportation. scriptiou of mo<lern machinery known tO' the in- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



24; 



(lustry of barrel-making. His workmen are ex- 
perts ill their respective lines, and Mr. Brittoi: 
is always present, seeing to it that none bnt 
the best manufactnred products leave his fac- 
tnry. 

Mr. Brittcin was born at Sidney Plains, Dela- 
ware county, New York, December 18, 1832, and 
is a son of Solomon and Amy (Whitney) Brit- 
ton both natives of New England. When he 
was eighteen years of age he removed with his 
])arents to Green Bay, where ever since his life 
has Ijeen spent. He is the only surviving child 
of a family of nine children. Politically Mr. 
Britton is a stanch Republican. He has often 
been urged to become a candidate for office, and 
has served several times as alderman of the city, 
antl performed gtKxl work as a member of the 
city board of health, also as a memljer of the 
school board. He was a promoter and organizer 



of the Brown County Fair and I'ark .Vssociation. 
and its tirsf president. He is a stockholder of 
the Kellogg National Bank and is one of the 
meml>ers of the Green Bay Business Men's Asso- 
ciation. 

Few business men <if Green Bay stand any 
higher than Mr. Britton. His business record is 
in harmony with his record as a man, distin- 
guished by unswerving integritv and honesty. 

Mr. Britton has been married four times. 
His first marriage, in 1833, was to Miss Frances 
Daggett, who died within a year. In 1855 he 
was married to Miss Jerusha Kelsey, who died the 
following year. In 1859 Mr. Britton married 
Mrs. Laura Strickland. They had two cliildren. 
She dieil in September, 1890, and in October, 
1892, Mr. Britton married his present wife, who 
was Miss .\my Thrall, a native of New York 
state. 



WILLIAM H. JONES 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Mr. William H. Jones, presitlent of the Piano move to Chicago, which he did the following 
Manufacturing Company, is perhaps one of the year, establishing the works at Deering, Illinois, 
best known men throughout the west. The The old works at Piano having thus been aban- 
original harvester works at Plani>, Illinois, were doned, Mr. W. H. Jones and E. H. Gammon 
established way back in 1863 by the Marsh organized tbe Piano Manufacturing Company 
Steward Company, for the manufacture of the and began buililing harvesters and binders in 
Marsh harvester. Alxjut 1870 E. H. Gam- 1881. The business of the concern has since 
mon and William Deering became interested been a wonderful success and outgrew the loca- 
in the works, and later purchased them. The tion. In 1893, the firm moved to West Pullman, 
machines manufactured at that time carried two where it has gradually enlarged and improved, 
men, who rode and bound the grain as cut and until today it affords as perfect facilities as can 
delivered to them by die apron carriers. In 1874 be found in the world. With adequate railroad 
an automatic wire l.jinder was api)lie(l to the ma- connections, it is afforded abundant shipping 
chine, taking the i)lace of the two men. This facilities to all points. The plant is very large 
and other autontetic devices were successfully and covers an area of thirty-three acres, and em- 
developed upon the Marsh Harvester, until 1877 ploys over two thousand men. Piano machines 
and 1878. when it had come into common use. are now known in every city, town and cross- 
In 1879, the partnership of Gammon & Deering roads in .America and Europe, 
having e.\i)ireil, Mr. Deering determined to re- .Mr. William H. Junes was burn in Wales, in 



248 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



1845, anil einigraied U) this country in 1857. 
settling at Culunil)ia. W'iscunsin. After his ar- 
rival in Wisconsin he engaged in work on a farm, 
continuing in sucii employment vmtil 1S66, when 
he became agent of the Dodge Reapers and 
Champion Mowers at Berlin, A\'isc(jnsin. Two 
years later he was traveling salesman for L. J. 
I'nsli & Company, of Milwaukee, remaining in 
that position until 1870. when he was eni- 
ploved bv E. H. (lammim, wlm had been for 
vears manufacturing and selling the Marsh Har- 
vester, then the only machine nf its class in the 
market. ^Ir. Jones remained with Mr. Gam- 



mon, and subse(piently with Mr. Deering. until 
1 88 1, as al)ove mentioned, when he entered into 
partnership with Mr. Gammon. 

Mr. Jones is a tlioroughly practical man, well 
versed in all the intricacies of the trade; a man 
who has had the closest possible connection with 
both the dealer and the farmer ever since the in- 
troducticm of improved harvester machinery. 1 ie 
possesses a keen comprehension of their wauls in 

every detail. 

Mr. Tillies was united in marriage in 18^)7 to 
Miss Elizabeth Owens. They have a family of 
three sons. 



AUGUSTUS LEDYARD SMITH, A. M. 



APPLETON, WIS. 

of the Universitv of Wisconsin ; has been mayor 
of .\ppleton and member of her common council : 

au-d trustee of Lawrence University for many 
years. Vo.v twenty-five )ears he has been tru,stee 
of the Wesieyar. University of Middlctown, Con- 
necticut. In 1891 he was appointed [iresident of 

tl^e Wisconsin Board of World's Fair Managers. 



Born at ^liddletown, Middlesex county, Con- 
necticut, .\pril 5, 1833. Graduated from the 
Weslcvan University at Middletown, in 1854. 
From 1854-6 he was tutor in the University of 
Wisconsin; 1856-66, secretary and treasurer of 
the Fo.x & Wisconsin Improvement Company ; 
1860-63, assistant instructor in mathematics in 
United States Naval Academy, .\nnapolis; 1866- On October 30, i860, Mr. Smith married Miss 
1900, secretarv and treasurer of the Green Bay Edna Jewett Taylor, of Madison, who died .\pril 
& Mississippi Canal Company; 1869-1900, he 3, 1894, leaving twu' sons, both of whom have 
was engaged in real estate and banking; 1866- graduated from Wesleyan University. 
99, in insurance and real estate. In 1870 Mr. Mr. Smith's ancestors came from England and 

Smith organized the First National Bank of Ap- came to this country in the first half of the seven- 
]ileton, and was its [jresident for more than teenth century. On his mother's side his ances- 
t\^entv years; he was one of the original members tors were prominent in the Colonial wars of this 
and pi-esident of the .\ppleton Iron Company; in country and the Revolutionar)- War, the War of 
1881 he was the leading spirit in the organization 1812 and the Mexican War. Such names as 
of the .\ppleton Edison Light Company, Limited; Captain Timothy Childs and his son, Timothy 
ill i8()4 Mr. Smith was made vice-jiresident of Childs, Jr., Colonel Easton, Major-General Lcd- 
tl:e .National .\ssociation of the Edison lllumin- _\ard. Colonel Foreman and General Thomas 
aling Companies. In 186)6-67 he was State sena- Lhilds are prominent in the history of this coun- 
tor fn)m the si.xth district, "serving on the com- ti'\ , 
mittees on education and on corporations, and 
taking a leadiuii' i)art in the reorganizati(>n td' the 



On his father's side his great-grandfather. 



I'lldad Smith, was one of the earliest volunteers 
from the State of Connecticut on the alarm from 
State Universitv." I'rom 1866-74 he was regent Lexington, and he was afterwartl a school com- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



251 



missioner of the state of Connecticut. Mr. niinist^s of the gosi>el and teachers, and tlie edu- 
Smith's ancestors on both sides in many instances cational interests of this country have been pro- 
received a college education and their names are moted by all generations of both sides of the 
recorded among the alumni of \\'illiams and family. 

Hamiltcin colleges, and among the professions A biograpliical sketch of Mr. Smith may 1>e 

they atlorncd after war's cessation were doctors, found in "American Bi(jgraphy" (Chicago). 



HON. JAMES HARDING SOUTHARD 

TOLEDO, OHIO 



Hon. James H. Southard, member of congress 
fronii the: ninth district of Ohio, was born on a 
farm in \\''ashington township, near Toledo, 
Ohio', January 20, 1851, and is a son of Samuel 
and Charlotte (Hitchcock) Southard. He was 
educated at the public schools and Cornell Uni- 
versity, where he graduated in 1874. He began 
the study of law in 1875 at Toledo, Ohio, and 
was admitted to the bar in 1877, and at once 
commenced practice of law in Toledo, and has 



continued it ever since; was assistant prosecuting 
attorney of Lucas county; afterwards twice 
elected prosecuting attorney of said county ; was 
elected in 1894 to the fifty-fourth congress; re- 
elected to the fifty-fifth, fifty-sixth and fifty-sev- 
enth congresses. He is a Mason, Elk, Knight of 
Pythias, A. O. U. W., K. O. T. M., etc. Mr. 
Southard is a Republican. He was married March 
3, 1883, to Miss Carrie T. Wales. They have 
three children, two daughters and a son. 



HON. JOSEPH BODWELL DOE 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 



Hon. Joseph B. Doe, adjutant general, state 
of Wisconsin, assistant secretary of war, at- 
li rney, was bia-n March 8, 1855, at Janes\ille, 
Rock county, \\'isconsin, and is a son of Joseph 
Bodwell Doe, a native of New Hampshire, and 
Anna Jane (Marcher) Doe, a native of Virginia. 
He was educated at Janesville schools and at 
Racine College, where lie graduated in June. 
1S74. He then studied law in the office of the 
Hon. John \\'inans, of Janesville, Wisconsin, 
and was admitted to the bar April i, 1876; prac- 
ticed law at Janesville and was city attorney there 
from .\pril. 1888, to 1890. Governor Peck ap- 
pointed him adjutant general in 1891, which 
position lie resigned in December, 1893, to accept 

14 



an M])pointment as assistant secretary of war un- 
der President Cleveland. ]\Ir. Doe served in this 
capacity until March 22, 1897, when he resigned 
and located at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in April 
of that vear, resuming the practice of his profes- 
sion. In August, 1899, he was appointed si>ecial 
counsel for the city of Milwaukee. 

(ieneral Doe enlisted in tlie Wisconsin Na- 
tional Guard in 1878, was afterward corjwral, 
sergeant, second lieutenant, first lieutenant, cap- 
tain of Company A, First Infantry, inspector of 
small arms and promoted to adjutant general. 

He is a member of several social clubs, in- 
cluding the Alilwaukee Press Club; a Knight of 
Pythias since 1878, was C. C. for two terms, 



252 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Oriental Lodge, No. 22; Mason in 1893; ^"<^1 sota, who died August 22, 1879, leaving a 

Knight Templar. In religious matters an Epis- daughter, Kate. Mr. Doe married Miss f-er- 

copalian, pulitically a Democrat, and a leader of trude Britton, of Beloit, Wisconsin, June 20, 

his party in his state. 1886. They have two children, Julia A. ami 

Joseph B. Doe was married September 18, Arthur B. Doe, now thirteen and eleven years 

1878, to Miss Kate Ste\ens, of Winona, Minne- of ao'e. 



GRANGER FARWELL 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



Granger Farwell, the senior member of the 
firm of Granger Farwell & Company, is a man 
who stands high in the financial world of the 




in Chicago in 



Farwell was born 

1857, and is a son of the late 
^\'illiam W. Farwell. His early 
education was ac(juired at the 
public and high schools of Chi- 
cago. He entered Yale College in 
1875 graduating in 1878. After 
studying law for two years he en- 
tered the employ of James H. 
Pearson & Company, manufac- 
turers and dealers in lumber, be- 
coming a partner in 1882 and so continuing until 
the dissolution of the partnership in 1890. At 
that time he became associated with Edwin L. 



Lobilell in the management of the corporation 
known as Lobdell, Farwell & Company. This 
corporation retired from active business in 1898, 
when Mr. Farwell became the head of the pres- 
ent banking and brokerage firm of Granger Far- 
well & Company. The firm are members of the 
New York and Chicago Stock Exchanges, and 
Air. Farwell is a memljer of the Chicago Club, 
University Club of Chicago and of the Uni- 
versity Club of New York, and resides at Lake 
Forrest, Illinois. 

In politics he has always been a stanch Re- 
publican, but has never had any desire to hold 
public office. He is the soul of geniality and en- 
joys his home life above all else. His superior 
ability and sterling rectitude of character endear 
him to all, and make his circle of friends co- 
extensive with his circle of acquaintances. 



HON. JOHN C. BELL 

MONTROSE. COL. 

Hon. John C. Bell, member of congress from of that state in 1874, and the same year mo\ed to 

the second district of Colorado, was born De- Colorado and commenced the practice of law at 

cember 11, 1851, in Grundy county, Tennessee, Saguache in June, 1874; was appointed county 

and is a son of Harrison and Rachel Bell. He attorney of Saguache county and served until 

was educated in the private schools of Prof. Ma_\-, 1876, when he resigned and removed to 

Rufus Clark and Professors Hampton and Mill- Lake City, Colorado, then the most thriving city 

er, in Franklin county, Tennessee; read law in in the great San Juan mining region ; was elected 

\\"inchester, Tennessee; was admitted to the I>ar county clerk of Hinsdale county in 1S78, but did 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT \\EST 



253 



imt pcrf( rm the duties pcrsi;nall\- : was twice 
elected mayor of Lake City, and in August, 1885, 
resigned that position, and, forming a law part- 
nership with Hon. Frank C. Goudy. removed to 
]\[ontrose. where he has since resided: in No- 
vemher, 1888, was elected judge of the seventh 
judicial district of Colorado for a period of six 
years; was elected to the fifty-third, fifty-fourth, 
fifty-fifth, and fifty-sixth congresses, and re- 
elected to the fifty-seventh congress. He is a 
memlicr of the I. O. O. I", and also a Knight 



Tem])la'r, politically a Democrat and an active 
worker for his part}-. Judge Bell was married 
Septemher i, 1881, to Miss S. E. Ahernathy, 
daughter of Dr. J. J. Ahernathy, who was edu- 
cated at the L'ni\'ersity of Pennsylvania, and 
who had a national reputation as a phvsician and 
as a literarj- character. 

He was for a long time lecturer in the Nash- 
ville Medical University, and for years had a 
standing offer of a chair in the Sewanee L'ni- 
versitv. 



M. LESTER COFFEEN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



;M. Lester Cofifeen, of the well-known law 
firm of Tenney, McConnell, Coffeen & Harding, 
is a native of New York state, and a resident of 
Chicago since 1869. He was horn at x\ntwerp, 
Jefferson county, New York, December 20, 1850. 
His ancestors were early settlers of New^ England 
and classed among the foremost citizens of influ- 
ence, force and ability of the early period of our 
history. His great-grandfather, Capt. John Cof- 
feen, the first settler of Cavendish, Vermont, was 
a Revolutionary soldier, a member of Vermont's 
first constitutional convention and many times 
a member of its legislature. \\'illiam! Coffeen, 
grandfather, a soldier in the war of 1812, and 
William L. G. Coffeen, his father, were respected 
citizens of the state of New York. William L. 
G. Coffeen came to Illinois in i860 and died a 
few years afterward at Libertyville. His mother, 
whose maiden name was Helen Lester, originated 
the establishment of fresh air homes near Chi- 
cago for ])0<ir working women and children, and 
the last few years of her life were spent in the 
support of this worthy charity. She died at Hins- 
dale. Illinois, in July, 1898. 

]\Ir. Coffeen was educated in Normal, Illinois, 
and pursued his legal studies in the old Chicago 
Unix'ersity, from which institution he graduated 



with the class of 1871. For a few years thereafter 
he read law in the office oi Van Arman & Vallette, 
and later served for se\^eral years as deputy clerk 
of the superior court and there learned the prac- 
tical workings of the courts, being thus prepared 
by experience as well as theoreticall}- with a thor- 
ough knowledge of the duties of his profession. 
In 1879 Mr. Coffeen formed a partnership for 
the practice of law with Emory A. Storrs, which 
continued about a year, when he took up the prac- 
tice alone, being associated with no partner until 
1887. At that time he became a member of the 
firm of Tenney, Bash ford & Tenney, of which the 
late Judge George Driggs was at one time a mem- 
ber, as was also Judge William E. Church, under 
the firm name of Tenney, Church & Coffeen. In 
1895 J"''l.?s -McConnell resigned from the bencli 
and became a member of the present firm of Ten- 
ney. McConnell & Coffeen. JMr. Harding being 
adinittcd to partnership since that time. This 
firm does a general law practice, its members 
being men of pronounced ability. 

Mr. Coffeen enjoys a good share of the most 
important practice of the city, and has conducted 
to a successful issue litigation that has awakened 
widespread attention. He is a well-read lawyer, 
thoroughly prepared on the principles of juris- 



254 



PRO.MIXEXT .MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



prudence, and his al)ility tn apply them to tl:e 
contested pinnts has Ijeen shuwn un various oc- 
casions when he lias served as counsel or advo- 
cate in important legal business. He is very 
popular in professional circles and has served as 



disixsilii n and ciurtecus manner make him a 
general tavi rite. He is a product of the earnest, 
intense life of Chicago. Against odds which 
would have o\-ercome a less dauntless spirit he 
has made his way to the front rank in the legal 



secretary and member of the board of managers profession and lias car\ed for himself a niche in 
of the Chicago Bar Association, in which he takes Chicago's Temple of Fame. Toi his clients as well 
an active interest. He is also a member of the as to his friends, he gives himself and his utmost 
Chicago Club and the Strollers Club of Xew York jxnvers with la\ish prodigality and with the high- 
City, est sense of duty and devotion. He is warm- 
Mr. Coffeen was married in 1877 to ]\Iiss hearted, generous and loyal to his friends; he 
Martha Martin. Their family consists of two makes new ones wherever he goes, but ne\er 
daughters and a son — Henry ]\Iartin Coffeen, a loses one. \Mietlier in the bitterness of liolitical 
member of the Yale University class of 1902. strife or the intensity of a lawsuit, his cheerful- 
Mr. Coffeen maintains a handsome residence on ness never leaves him. Always self-possessed 
Calumet Avenue and a country home at Kenil- and always considerate of the feelings of others, 
worth. Illinois. he is true and faithful in all the relations of 
His social qualities are marked, and his genial life. 



HON. JAMES G. JENKINS 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 

Hon. James G. Jenkins, judge of the sev- a marked [josition of ad\'antage among lawyers 
cnth judicial circuit of the United States, which trained to an older S}'steni. Well read in his 
comprises the states of Illinois, Indiana and Wis- profession, clear in thought, forcible in argu- 
consin, is a man of great eminence and stands nient and endowed with a rich vein of humor, 
high in the legal world. ever at command, he soon became the favorite of 

Judge Jenkins was born at Saratoga Springs. the court room. Flis work was so bright it often 
Xew York. Julv 18. 1834. His father. Edgar seemed like play, but it was preceded by careful 
Jenkins, was a well-known business man of tlie and earnest preparation in his (jffice. Ele was 

elected city attorney in Milwaukee in 1863 and 
held the office for four successive terms. In 1867 
lie f(.)rmed a partnership with Theodore B. Elliott. 
This firm some six years later was joined by 
General I-". C. \Mnkler, which soon took rank 
with the leading practitioners of the state. Upon 
Mr. P.lliott's sad death in the Newhall House 
fire, Mr. A. A. L. Smith came into the firm. 



city of New York. His mother was a daughter 
of Reuben Hyde \\'alworth. the distinguished 
jurist who for many years held the position of 
chancellor of the state of Xew York. Judge Jen- 
kins was educated in his nati\-e state, read law 
in .\'ew York City, and was there admitted to 
the l)ar in 1855. Two years later he came to 
Milwaukee and at once entered upon the active 
practice of his profession, ^^'isconsin had then L'ntil his appointment to the federal bench in 
ju^t adopted the Xew ^'ork code of practice, and 1888 Judge Jenkins continued in the active and 
his thorough faniiliarilv with it at once gave him 'devoted service of his profession, enjoying a large 





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CTLKE & CO PUBLISHERS 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



257 



and profitalile practice, a very lari^e share of 
popularity and the confidence and resi)ect of liis 
clientage. He contined himself to no special 
branch of ihc ])rofession and proved his superior 
(jualities as lawyer and ach'ocate in many im- 
portant causes in the different courts of the 
state. 

In politics Judge Jenkins is a Democrat of 
the old school. He gained eminence at an early 
day in the councils of his party. He was a can- 
didate for governor of Wisconsin in 1879, re- 
ceived its vote for United States senator in 1881, 
and has been a delegate to numerous state and 
natioaial conventions. He is a man of taste and 
wide reading in general literature. 

In 1870 he \\as married to the daughter of 
the Hon. Andrew G. Miller, then judge of the 
Uniited States District Court for the eastern dis- 
trict of Wisconsin. His home in Milwaukee is 
the nucleus of a refined and intelligent social 
circle. In 1888 he was appointed judge of the 
United States District Court for the eastern dis- 



trict of Wisconsin, and in 1893 to the position 
be now holds, that of circuit judge of the sev- 
enth judicial circuit of the United States. In 
all these positions he has fully vindicated' bis 
reputation as an able and intelligent jurist. In 
J 893, the University of Wisconsin, and in 1897, 
Wabash College, Indiana, conferred upon him 
the degree of LL. D. Judge Jenkins is a man of 
great purity of character. As a judge be is able,' 
conscientious and fearless. He brought to the 
bench not only profound learning but also that 
which is far more useful, a wide experience in 
atf'airs and an almost unerring judgment. In bis 
business life he has displayed the same singular 
sagacity, clear judgment and tireless industry, 
securing success in an extraordinary degree; 
often called) to posts of honor and responsibility 
by his fellow citizens, be has always discharged 
every duty with fidelity. His signal ability has 
made him a leader in e\-ery field- of endeavor that 
ht has entered. Yet, his habits of life are simple 
and he despises ostentation in all its forms. 



HON. EDWARD S. MINOR 

STURGEON BAY, WIS. 



Hon. Edward S. Minor, member of congress 
from the eighth district of Wisctmsin, was born 
December 13, 1840, in Jefferson county, New 
York, and is a son of Martin and Abigail J. 
Minor. His mother's maiden name was Abigail 
J. St. Ores. 

Mr. Minor was educated at the Milwaukee 
and Sheboygan public schools and received an 
academic education. In 1861 he enlisted in Com- 
])any G, Second Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry, as 
a ])ri\-ate, participated in all the expeditions, raids 
and battles in Avhicb the regiment was engaged 
until the close of the war. He was mustered 
out as first lieutenant in November, 1865. 



After his return he engaged in mercantile pur- 
suits until 1884, at which time he was appointed 
superintendent of the Sturgeon Bay and Lake 
Michigan ship canal, which position be held for 
seven years. He is also' a licensed master of 
steam vessels, being interested in steam tugs, etc. 
He was a member of the Wisconsin general as- 
sembly in 1878, 1880 and 1881, and a member 
of the Wisconsin senate in 1882 to 1886, being 
president pro tern during; the latter term; was also 
on the Wisconsin fish commission for four years; 
lias held numerous local offices at various times. 
He wa.<i elected to the fifty-fourth, fifty-fifth, fifty- 
sj.xth and fifty-seventh congresses. Mr. Minor 



258 PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 

is a member of the G. A. R., joining in 1867; a Miss Tillie E. Graliani. Six cliildreii were Imru 

member of the Loyal Legion, L O. O. F., Knights to tlieni, all living, tun sons and four dauglitcrs. 

of Pythias and other societies. Politically he is a The second sun is in the navy and the eldest son 

Republican. 'Mv. ^lilnnr was married in 1867 to is secretary to iiis father at ^^'asl^ington. 



HON. WILLIAM R. TAYLOR 

COTTAGE GROVE, WIS. 

Wisconsin has many strong characters who Republican. I\Ir. ^Milnor was married in i8(>7 to 

stand out amrmg tlieir contemporaries endowed theless, is of pure Scotch blood and possesses 

with a personality of rugged strengtli and \igor the sterling qualities of Uiat hardy race. He was 

peculiarly their own. These qualities were the born in Woodbury, Connecticut, July 10, 1818. 

product partly of inheritance and partly of a con- His atlvent into this world was particularly sad, 

d'ition of affairs which has forever ceased to for he was Init three weeks old when his mother 

exist. died. Thus, bereft of all maternal care, he 

\\'licn Wisciinsin was imadcd b\- the pioneer, reached the age of six years, when his father, a 

when society was scarcely organized and there sea captain, was lost on the ocean. Left entirely 

were no graded schools in which the minds of the .to strangers, his guardianship was entrusted to 

genius and dullard could he brought to fill the a family of pioneer farmers who moved to Jeffer- 

measure of mediocrity, there was room for de- son county, New York, at that time a wild and 

velopment of a tyjie of men that is, unhappily sparsely inhabited section. ]Mr. Taylor spent his 

for us, fast passing away. They were strong, boyhood years there, imder the care of strangers, 

brainy, intense men, with whom to think was to wlio treated him with little love or afifection. 

act. Stronger men intellectually may he pro- The entire educatioual advantages of our sub- 

duced with our improved educational conditions, ject consisted of tlie limited instruction ol)tain- 

and. no doubt, will be: but it is doubtful if Wis- able in the district school, whither he daily 

consin ever produced a class of men, of which walked during the severe winter' months, two 

Philetus Sawyer, William R. Taylor and Jere- miles distant. Without money, relatives or 

miah Rusk are tvpes, who can do the work which friends, liis life \\ as nne of cheerlessness. but the 

the times demanded better than they did the duty sjiirit which fortified his efforts encouraged him 

which was laid upon them. to lietter his conditinn by leaving his unhappy 

Of all the various characters which have surroundings and starting to make his own way 

come to Wisconsin to assist in developing her in the world. Before reaching his sixteenth year 

matchless destiny, there is none stronger in na- he awakened to the necessity of an education, and 

tive force, richer in solid. self-acf|uired learning for several years he alternated at clinpiiing wood 

or endowed with a greater versatilitv than Hon. and working in the harvest fields to obtain the 

^^"illiam R. Taylor, lietter known from one end requisite means to attend school. This unceas- 

of Wisconsin to the other as the "Farmer Gov- ing effort resulted in his securing a certificate of 

ernor." admission to the third term of the sophomore 

Though born in the United States, and in all class of Uniou College, at Schenectady. New 

his actions, sentiinents and feelings a typical York. Although he had secured a good academic 




/TT /UP.:^/4t- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



261 



education, lie was not financially alile to enter 
upon a collegiate course. On the day that four 
of the class of which he was a member left for 
college to complete their studies, (two of them 
were g'randsons of old (ieneral Brown of Sackett 
Harbor fame, of tlic war of 1812), Mr. Ta\l<M- 
went into the sugar bush, and, w ith liis own bands 



our populatiiin which has contributed so much 
to the wealth of the state. The result of the 
severe experience we have narrated is manifest 
in the whole character of the man. 

During his boyhood and early manhood he 
was a pui}il, teacher, miller, foundrvman, rafts- 
man and lumbernian by turns, and, fur nearly a 



and a team to haul the wood and sap, produced third of a century, a practical fanner; therefore 



during the season eleven hundred pounds of 
sugar and two Ijarrels of molasses with which to 
pay tuition and board bills already contracted. 
Soon after he began teaching" a select school, and 
later on an academy. 

In 1840 he went to Elyria, Ohio, where he 
joined a class of forty-fi\'e \oung men who were 
preparing themselves for teaching. At that time 
the school authorities of La Porte, Ohio, offered 
an extra price for any teacher who could manage 
their public school, it having become notorious 
for disorder and violence. The previous winter 
three teachers liad undertaken the task and failed. 



his sympathies for the lalxiring classes, and his 
interest in the prosperity of the industrial com- 
munities, are intuitive and sincere. 

Soon after Governor Taylor located at Cot- 
tage Grove his neighbors recognized his abililv 
and began to bestow official favors upon him, and 
for forty years he has hardly been without some 
public duty to perform. At times he has re- 
ceived nearly all the votes cast, and twice all the 
votes, for chairman of his to-wn. He has lieen 
superintendent of public schools; several times 
chairman of the C(_)unty board of supervisors of 
the capital county of the state; for seventeen 



so that the school was entirely broken up. This years he was county superintendent of the p 
wasi ani opportunity young Taylor coveted. Dur- 
ing the third' winter under his management it 
became the ])remiuni school of the county. 

We next find him running a grist mill, a .saw- 
mill and a cupola furnace. Failing health from 
o\-erwork caused him to de\-ote hi.^> spare time to 
reading medicine, and in the winter of 1845-6 he 
attended a five-months course of lectures and 
clinical instruction in the medical college at 
Cleveland, Ohio. During bis residence in Ohio 
he was elected captain of a company of Ohio uni- 
formed militia, receiving every vote of the com- 
pany. Later he was elected colonel. In the fall 
O'f 1848 Mr. Taylor came to Wisconsin and set- 
tled on a farm in Cottage ( Iro\e, Dane count\', 
where he still resides. His life was for nianv 
years one of great activit\' and incessant toil. 

Not content with the nrdinary labors of the 
farm, be resorterl' to the pineries during the win- 
ter iiiionths, and as a workman became ideiitilied 
with the hardships of that enterprising class of 



oor 
until he resigned; was appointed deputy internal 
re\enue collector, and was trustee, -^'ice-president 
and a member of the executive board of the State 
Idos])ital for the Insane, fmm the time of its 
reorganization in 1860 until he became gover- 
nor in 1874. He was a member of both branches 
of the legislature of Wisconsin. He was for 
se\'en _\ears president of the Dane Countv Agri- 
cultural Siiciet}-; eight years chief marshal and 
two years president of the Wisconsin State Agri- 
cultural Society; and during the late war was the 
first man in Dane county to ofifer a bountv to 
volunteers for enlistment, which bounty secured 
four enlistments. 

.Although a Democrat, and but recently a 
member of the senate as a representative of that 
party, Mr. Taylor came out openly for a vigorous 
prosecution of the war for the Union upon the 
secession of the southern states, and be was ap- 
pciinted bv Governor Randall as a special agent 
of the state to visit St. Louis and confer with 



262 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



General Frenidiit, wlio was in command of the 
Department of tlie Missouri, witli respect to rais- 
ing and et]uipping troops to be sent from \\'is- 
consin. His mission was entirely successful, but 
before the plans agreed upon were put intO' exe- 
cution, General Fremont was removed from com- 
mand and a new order of management instituted 
by the general government. 

In 1873 Governor Taylor was by acclama- 
tion placed in nomination for governor by a con- 
vention composed' of "Democrats, Liberal Repub- 
licans and other electors favorable to genuine re- 
form through c(jual and impartial legislation, 
honesty in office and rigid economy in the ad- 
ministration of public afifairs." The state was 
strongly Republican, and his opponent was C. C. 
Washljurn. then governor. He was elected by a 
majority of 15,41 1. The popularity of Mr. Tay- 
lor as a political candidate is best demonstrated 
by the fact that he was the candidate of a minor- 
it) party when elected chairman of the county 
board of supervisors, and also when elected mem- 
ber of the assembly, also state senator and gov- 
ernor. 

Mr. Ta_\-Ior performed the duties of governor 
with remarkable skill and ability. He has rare 
qualifications for the executi\e function, coolness, 
courage and an underlying foundation of com- 
mon sense and a devotion to what he believes to 
be right. His appointments in respect to the edu- 
cational, reformatory and penal institutions under 
the care of the state were mure nearly non- 
partisan than it has been the good fortune of 
Wisconsin ever since or before to secure. His 
high aim was tO' secure men of peculiar fitness 
for the management of public affairs, particularly 
the educatiiinal institutions, and thus some of the 
best men in buth parties, independent of pressure, 
importunity or attack, were commissioned by 
him. The apixjintment of the Hon. E. G. Ryan 
to be chief justice of the supreme court will fi>r- 
e\er redound' to his credit. The action of the 
Governor in the matter of this appointment will 



a])iiear the more ])raiseworthy when the history 
of that ex-entful time is recalled. Then nearly 
every eminent lawyer in the state was under re- 
tainer for some one of the great raihvay cor- 
porations. This was especially true of most of 
the prominent attorne_\-s whose personal and 
political relations to the Gijvernor caused their 
names to be generally regarded among the prob- 
able recipients of the executive favor. The 
great struggle for legislative control of the rail- 
ways all foresaw must soon be carried upmi ap- 
peal to the highest courts, both state and national. 
Thmughout the entire country all eyes were 
turned up(jn Wisconsin, under its granger gov- 
ernor, the conceded battlefield of the momentous 
conflict already begun in several states. From 
the circumstances nf the situatiiju the Governor 
had an important vet \ery delicate duty to per- 
form. He at once saw, however, that in his ap- 
pointment of a chief justice he must find some 
one who was r.ot irrevocably comm'itted for or 
against, and whose legal attainments, whose per- 
sonal cpialifications and whose high character 
would at once defy criticism. After long and ma- 
ture deliberation, meanwhile keeping his own 
counsel, even from his most intimate friends, the 
appointment of "Sir. Ryan was announced. Tlie 
selection was universally commended in all 
quarters. It was hailed with expressions of gen- 
eral satisfaction by all parties whose interests 
were invoh-ed in the great legal conflict then 
coming on. In the subsequent opinion of the 
great chief justice sustaining the principle of 
legislative control of railroads, an opinion after- 
ward affirmed Iw the supreme court of tiie United 
States, the wisdom of Governor Taylor's appoint- 
ment finds fullest vindication. 

As just indicated, the most important work 
of Governor Taylor's term was the enforcement 
of the so-called "Potter Law," which aimed to 
l)lace the railways under state contml, limiting 
charges for transportation of passengers and 
freight and the classification of freight. (Prior 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



263 



to tin's passenger travel on all roads in the state 
^\as from four to seven cents per mile, j 

-Vt the outset the two chief railwav corp<ira- 
tions of the state ser\ed formal mitice upon the 
Governor that the\- should nut respect the i)ro- 
\-isions of this law. Under his oath of office to 
support the constitutinn and to "take care" tliat 
the laws be faithfully executed, he prumptly re- 
sponded tO' the notification of the railroad com- 
jianies by a proclamation, dated May i, 1874, in 
which he enjoined c<jnipliance with the statute, 
declaring that all the functions of his office would 
be exercised in faithfully executing the laws. 
"The law of the land," said he, "must be re- 
spected and obeved. ^^'hile none are so humble 
as to be l>eneath its protection, none are so great 
or so strong as tO' be above its restraints." The 
result was an appeal to the courts, in which the 
Governor and his advisers were forced to con- 
front an arra}- nf the most formidable legal talent 
of the country. Upon the result in Wisconsin 
depended the vitality of similar legislation in 
other states, and Governor Taylor was thus com- 
pelled to bear the brunt of a controversy of na- 
tional extent and consequences. The contention 
extended both ti:) state and United States courts. 
the main cpiestion involved being the cc>nstitu- 
tional power of the state over corporations of its 
own creation. In all respects the state was fully 
sustained in its position, and ultimately judg- 
ments were rendered against the corporations in 
all the state and federal courts, including the 
supreme court of the United States, and estab- 
lishing finally the com]>lete and absolute power 
of the pe()ple, through the legislature, to^ modify 
or altogether repeal the charters of corporations. 

It miight be stated in Ithis connection that 
Governor Taylor personally induced Judge Da- 
vid Da\-is, a member of the United States su- 
preme court, to cnnie to ^\'isconsin and preside 
at the trial of a test case, and thus was settled 
by Governor Taxhir and his ailniinistration a 
momentous issue between the people and the cnr- 



poration — an issue vitally affecting all the com- 
mercial and agricultin-a! interests of the state. 
Among the creditable acts of his administra- 
tion were those securing $800,000 from the gen- 
eral go\-crnnient for the Fox and Wiscnnsin riv- 
ers impniAcment in the interest of commerce and 
na\'igation : dividing the state lands into dis- 
tricts, and making each timber agent resi)onsible 
for his locality, by which he recovered largely 
increased sums to the trespass fund ; also com- 
pelling the Wisconsin Central Railway Company 
to give substantial assurance that the promised 
line from Stevens Point to Portage should be 
constructed; and, by taking such prompt and de- 
cisi\-e action against what he believed to be a 
fraudulent priiUing claim, that there was saved to 
tlie taxpayers of the state more than $100,000. 
Furthermore, in view of the recent important liti- 
gation on behalf of the state against the ex-treas- 
urers for the reccivery of interest money received 
liy them from the banks, the wisdom; and fore- 
sight of Governor Taylor are shown in a recom- 
mendation contained in both of his annual mes- 
sages to the legislature favoring either the col- 
lecti(in of taxes semi-annually without additional 
cost to the people or providing for the loaning of 
the surplus in the general fund, obtained by tax- 
ation, at a fair rate of interest, thereby giving 
some compensation for advancing the money so 
long before needed in the pul)lic business. Had 
Governor Taylor's suggestion respecting the in- 
\estment of the ])ublic funds been followed by 
tlie treasurers of the state much individual morti- 
fication and public scandal would have been 
avoided during subsequent years. He was an 
active promoter of the agricultural dejiartment of 
the State Uni\ersity, and an ardent advocate of 
farmers' institutes — the educatinual benefits of 
which cannot be estimated. 

In his last annual message Governor Taylor 
recommended the passage of some law rendering 
railwav comiianies liable for injury to their em- 
ployes resulting from the negligence of co-em- 



264 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



ployes. His reconiinciulaticin in this regard was 
fiiihodied in a bill subsequently ])asse(l and known 
as the "Co-Employe Law," a wholesome measure 
designed to afford greater security to the lives of 
the railway employes and of the traveling public 
as well. He also recommended that in large cities 
tlic polls of election should be held open longer 
in the evening, so that the workingmen could 
viite without much loss of time. 

Governor Taylor instituted suits against a 
midti-millionaire lumber company to recover 
damages for its trespass upon the public lands, 
and his agents secured proof which was deemed 
by able counsel ample and positive to recover sev- 
eral hundred thousand dollars, but the six years 
statute of limitation had already run against all 
but about two hundred and fifty thousand 
diillars. This great company, with its two 
thousand employes, more or less, put forth 
strenuous efforts to prevent his re-election; that 
result having been attained, the suit was so 
defaulted and frittered away that little or noth- 
ir.g was ever realized by the state from the liti- 
gation. Within this time the conflict between 
Wisconsin and Minnesota as to the inlet to Su- 
perior harbor reached a crisis, and under his 
direction the suits involving certain rights in dis- 
]nite were successfully prosecuted in the federal 
and supreme courts, but the adxantages gained 
for the state were subsequently lost by compro- 
mise or neglect after the close of his term. All 
these are conspicuous examples of vigor and 
efficiency in the administration of pulilic affairs 
during Governor Taylor's term, rarely equaled 
and ncA-er excelled in the history of the state of 
Wisconsin. 

His administration was a reformatory one. 
Its memliers started in 1iy paying their own in- 
auguration e.xpenses — a privilege not e.xercised 
before in many years, if ever, in the state. Gov- 
ernor Taylor set another example l)y accepting 
no railroad passes or telegraph deadheads dur- 
ing his term of office. During his incumbency 



and at his earnest recommendation, appropria- 
tions \\ere cut d(i\\n. the rate of taxation dimin- 
ished, the number of department employes les- 
sened, the expenses of government curtailed in 
many ways, and the total dislnirsements for state 
[lurposes reduced by many thousands of dollars 
below what thev had lieen in many years (by 
careful computation, all other conditions being 
equal, the legitimate amount^ from the records, 
was between two hundred and seventy thousand 
and three hundred thousand dollars during his 
term), and _\et no pulilic interest suft'ered for the 
want of an e.xpenditure of money. 

It remains to be said that Governor Taylor 
devoted his undix'ided attention and energies to 
the public ser\-ice, attending personally to minute 
details and the manifold labors of his office — he 
was governor in fact, not merely in name; and 
among the long roll of governors, none brought 
to the discharge of official duties a clearer integ- 
rity of purpose or more sturdy devotion to the 
public welfare than W. R. Taylor, the "Farmer 
CioNernor." 

In 1842 he married Miss Catherine Hurd, 
])y whom he had three daughters, one of whom 
died at the age of four years, and another of 
will in became the wife of ex-State Senator Rob- 
ert ]M. Bashford. The third daughter, who is 
still living, is the wife of I. \\'. Kanouse. Mrs. 
Ta}-Ior died some years agi.i. July 1. 1886, 
(iovernor Taylor married Viola Titus, a native 
(if X'ermunt, Ijut then living in Madison. They 
are the parents of one child, William ki)l)ert, Jr. 
In concluding this bingra])by. a brief history 
of his election and administration is proper. 
The contest in which his party was victorious 
and the criticism to which the election was sub- 
jected. ]irc:perly belong to this lustory. It was 
indeed one of the most remarkable victories ever 
won in the state. On his election the Republi- 
can press of the state, was, with few exceptions, 
exceedingly fair. It conceded his ability and dis- 
position to make his administration an able one. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



265 



But there were, Iierc anil there, in this regard, ex- 
ceptions tiiat arose" entirely I'mni partisanship nv 
])ersonal interest. In the midst of this criticism 
there was a powerl'ul undercurrent of public 
opinion which found expression alike in hoth 
Democratic and Repuhlicrni newspapers in able 
support of the Governor. Col. C. D. Robinson, 
former secretary of state, the able editor of the 
Green Bay Advocate, made the following' remark 
upon the election of Governor Taylor: "Xo man 
in the state exceeds him in personal independ- 
ence, in ability to determine his own line of con- 
duct on an\- cjuestion and in the sturdy determina- 
tion to act according to his own judgment. Tt 
has been our g'ood fortune to be connected with 
him in official service for many years^that of 
the manag'ement of the State Hospital for the 
Insane, at IMadison — and' we have learned long 
ago to admire him for these qualities. That 
board consisted of fifteen members, a majority 
of whom' were of opposite politics, and we do 
know that every one will indorse what we sav 
of him. In practical ability, thorough honesty, 
steadiness of character and native independence. 
Governor Taylor will ])rove the peer of any gov- 
ernor which A\'iscrinsin has e\'er had. and that 
is saying a good deal: for, looking along the list 
of our chief executives since this state has had 
a being, it shows a record second' at least to no 
ivestern state, if indeed in the Union. He loses 
nothing in ci ini])arison with Dodge. Dewev, Far- 
well, Barstow, Bashford. I'Jandall, Harvev, Sah'- 
mon. Lewis, Fairchild or AA'ashburn. AFnst. if 
not all, of those are illustrious names, remark- 
able, perhaps, more for their practical aliilitv and 
sterling worth llian exalted learning- and i)ri]liant 
attainments, and they form a record of which 
any state might be pnmd. AMien \\'illiam R. 
Tavlor's name shall have gone into the jiast with 
them, it takes an honorable place and second to 
nunc in the asseiublv." And now that the record 
has been made, what may we sav of the emphatic 
prediction of ]\Ir. Robinson? Have not all his 



words been luore than fulfilled? And does not 
the name of William R. Taylor take an honor- 
able place in the imjiartial history of Wisconsin? 
These questions ma_\- lie liest answered by the 
following editorial from The ^Milwaukee Daily 
News: "Parties and men of all opinions at 
Madison agree that Governor Taylor has made 
one of the best governors W^isconsin has ever 
had. Called to the ofifice in a great crisis in pol- 
itics, at a time when a party, after being in power 
for more than fifteen years, had retired and a 
new party had taken its place, he was surrounded 
by obstacles, embarrassments, conflicting inter- 
ests and novel situations from which the highest 
political skill and adroitness could hardlv ex- 
tricate him without his falling into some errors 
or mistakes. But Governor Taylor, with a 
readiness, adroitness, adaptability and force 
hardly to' be expected' of one in his place, and 
surrounded by circumstances like his, has de- 
\'eloped an. executive of rare ca]>acity, with an 
understanding of the most intricate public in- 
terests, and with a grasp and comprehension of 
all matters \-ital to- the people, which shows a 
mind of the highest order and' practical ability 
equal to that of the most distinguished of his 
predecessors." 

Such is the life of one of Wisconsin's most 
illustrious men. His honorable euterprise and 
unselfish devotion to every public and private 
duty ha\-e wi>nderfully impressed the peo])le of 
\\'isconsin. AMien his term of office exjiired 
he was accorded a unanimous nomination by ac- 
clamation from the convention of his party. 
Through the very great and active efiforts of the 
Combined lumbering and railroad interests and 
the corporate powers of the state acting with the 
o|iposite part}-, he was defeated at the polls by a 
bare plurality of a few hundred votes; but no 
one fanu'liar Avith the history of that time will 
deny that the strength and popularity of his 
nanie among the people were the efficient nieans 
of electing- his associates vtpon the Democratic 



266 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT \\'EST 



ticket. The (InvcriKir, however, retired from of- 
tice with manifold assurances of tlie confidence 
and Io\e of the common peoi)le, for the estal> 
hshment of whose ri<;hts he had bravely fought 
and nobly won. It is meager praise to say that 
no Wisconsin go\ernor ever accomplished more 
for the people than he, and this, too, amidst the 
most adverse circumstances. More enduring 
than monumental brass or marble, his complete 
\'in(lication can be read in the opinions of every 
court, state or national, that during those event- 
ful years passed ujxm the cpiestion of the people's 
right to control the corporations the^- had cre- 
ated. Mention has already been made of the suits 
Mention has already been made of the suits 
in behalf of the state he caused to be instituted 
to protect the ])eople from the unlawful tres- 
passes being committed in wholesale upon the 
state lands b\' some of the ])owerfnl lumljermen 
of the State. ( His o]>ponent was a rich lumber- 
man. ) Also of that important litigation to en- 
force the legislation placing the railways and cor- 
porations under state control as well as the inlet 



to Superior harbor. 'i"he resuU of all his elYorts 
in these respects was the combination of powerful 
lumber interests and the railway companies, not 
only of the state, but of the whole country, to 
pre\-ent his re-election and to prevent further 
efforts in the same direction to protect our state 
in its property and commercial interests. 

The great depression in business during 
the panic of '73-4-5 caused th.; discharge of 
thousands of employes; very many of wdiom 
were made tij believe it was owing to the Taylor 
adminisration : hence all these forces, acting in 
concert with the opposite party, made a com- 
bination too strong and effective for any one in- 
dividual to withstand, and it was actively alert 
in all iKirts of the State, and all the energies of 
the combination were constantly exerted in the 
campaign, and so effectively as to accomplish its 
one purpose, the defeat of the one man who had 
stood forth more than any other in the observ- 
ance of his official oath to see to it that the laws 
of the state were faithfullv executed. 



ABNER GILE 

LA CROSSE, WIS. 



Abner (hie left an indelible im]iression upon 
the minds of all who knew him. During his long 
career no citizen of the communitx' was e\er more 
respected, and no man more full\- enjoyed the 
confidence of the people or more richly deserved 
the esteem in which he was held. With great 
abilities, be combined gentleness of heart and 
temper and an affectionate nature. These traits 
in his character naturally drew many to him and 
ga\e him warm and faithful friends. With him 
duty was the guide of life, and where duty led he 
followed, for he lived on a higher jilane than most 
men, ha\ing alwavs a profound sense of personal 
responsibility and an independence of thought 



almost phenomenal. No one in distress ever ap- 
pealed tO' him in vain, for his heart was full of 
lienevolent lo\-e fi.ir his felliiw-men, sympathetic 
with their misfortunes and ambitious to be of 
service to them. He honestly worked his way to 
a position of eminence and affluence by industry 
and perseverance, overcoming early difficulties by 
the sheer force of detcrnfination. The many in- 
dustries with which he was connected remain 
after he has passed away, monuments to his abil- 
ity. Such a man is a great blessing to the world, 
and his death a great loss to his race. 

Mr. Gile was born at Gainsville, New York, 
January 3, 1820, and was the son of Nathan and 



PRO-MIXENT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



269 



L\dia ( Vates) Gile. His early years were spent 
U])()n a farm, as his fatiier's (_,ccui)ali(jn was tiiat 
of a farmer, but this life did imt satisfy the am- 
bitious and energetic Ijcjy, anil on attaining his 
majority he started out for the great west, deter- 
mined, if pluck and perseverance combined with 
work would do it, to obtain a name and a coni- 
petenc}' for himself. His education was pursued 
at the district school, and during vacations he as- 
sisted his father upon the farm. This hardy life 
fitted him for that severer test — the school of 
life, into which he at once took the i)lunge. Mr. 
Gile first located at W'aukegan, Illinois, and en- 
gaged in erecting docks and piers, and, having 
some money, purchased a farm not far distant. 
In 1850, in common with man_\- others, he shared 
in the California excitement, and made the jour- 
ney overland to the Golden Gate. Here he laid 
the foundation of his affluence. After a year's 
time spent in the mining regions, he returned to 
the states by way of the isthmus, landing in New 
York City and proceeding in a shi_)rt time to \\'is- 
consin, which state ever after remained his home. 
He first settled at Onalaska, and entered upon 
logging operations, at first by liimself and later 
in company with the late X. B. Hulvvay, under the 
firm name of Gile & Holway, a partnership that 
lasted o\-er a quarter of a century, and was dis- 
solved only when the firm's pine timber had Ijeen 
disposed of. Later Air. Gile remo\-ed to La Crosse, 
and in company with the Ilnn. C. C. W'ashliurn 
organized the La Crosse Lumber Company, and 
erected a verv large sawmill. This connectiori 
\\as terminated befc.re Governcjr Washburn's 
death. 

In 18S2, Mr. Gile. in cmnpany with Alessrs. 
X. H. and Levi Withee and H. .\. Bright, in- 
corporated the Island .Mill Lumber Company. 
]\rr. flilc was president of the company during 
its life, and sold on its account one hundred and 
fifty million feet of standing pine, partly on the 
stump and partly cut and delivered in the river. 

In addition tO' his lumber interests Mr. Gile 



made many in\cstmcnts in (jther lines. He was 
one of the incorporators of the La Crosse Linseed 
Oil Company, one of the heaviest stockholders 
and directors o.f the La Crosse Abattoir Company, 
one of the original stockholders of the Edison 
Light and Power Company, a stockholder in the 
La Crosse Gas Company and in the Brush Elec- 
tric Light Compau}-. He was a director and vice- 
president of the Batavian Bank of La Crosse, one 
of the soundest financial institutions of the upper 
Alississippi valley, and als(j held stocks in many 
enterprises of minor importance. He had heavy 
investments as well in other sections outside of 
Wisconsin. In 1892 he interested himself in tlie 
manufacture of cypress lumber, with the corpora- 
tion of McEwen & Murray, Limited, of Xew Or- 
leans, and also' had a large interest in the Park 
Hotel, of Hot Springs, Arkansas. 

]\Ir. Gile was an influential and valued mem- 
ber of the Universalist church, and he, with three 
or four others, practically supported the society 
in La Crosse, being a most liberal contributor. 
In politics he was a stanch Republican, but in no 
sense a politician, never seeking office or desiring 
any. 

Mr. Gile was a widely traveled man, taking 
his rela.xation from business in that way, and 
always spending the winters in a warmer latitude. 
His beautiful residence, "Pasadena," is one of 
the most handsome in La Crosse. 

Mr. Gile was married in 1843 to IMiss Mary 
Smith, of Xew York. Mrs. Elsie Gile Scott, 
their daughter, is the only child living. A son a 
number of years ago was accidentally shot, and 
his loss was a severe blow to his parents. ^Irs. 
Gile never recovered from the shock, and died 
not long after in 1877. 

Mr. Gile's social qualities were marked, and 
his genial disix>sition and courteous manners, at- 
tached to him many warm friends. His life was 
typical of the earnestness and intensity of the 
west and set an example well worthy of em)u- 
lation. 



2;o 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



SAMUEL K. MARKMAN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



( ^ 



Annmg the younger meinljers of tlie legal 
prctession at the Chicago bar is Samuel K. ^lark- 
nian, who is a son of Charles and Julia (Gallick) 
^larkman. ami was born in Chicago, October ii, 
1878. His education was acquired at the Chi- 
^^■^^^^^ cago public schools and later at 

W^ ^^1^^^ the Lake Forrest L'niversity. 
Later still he entered the Chicago 
College of Law, from which he 
graduated in 1899. He studied 
in the office of Edward A. Rosen- 
thal for five years, and it was dur- 
ing a part of this time he at- 
tended the Chicago College of 
Law. Mr. Rosenthal died in 
^larch, 1900. auvl Mr. Markman succeeded to his 
practice, which he is handling with marked suc- 
cess. He makes a specialty of receivership cases 
and is now acting as such in a dozen or more 
cases. He enjovs the distinction of being the 



H- 



t 



i\ 




of record. He was but seventeen years of age 
when he tried a case before Judge Clifford for 
three days in place of Mr. Rosenthal, wlio was 
engaged elsewhere, and won the case against une 
of the best known legal firms in Chicago. He is 
legal editor of the National Banker, a publica- 
tion devoted to the interests of national banks. 
yir. ^larkman is one of the coming lawyers of 
the day. 

He is noted for the zeal he displays in his 
profession and the careful regard evinced for the 
mterests of his clients. His business is large 
and constantly growing. Among the personal 
friends with whom he liolds social intercourse he 
is aflfable and engaging, unaffected and cour- 
teous; to all who approach him, attentive and 
obliging, and in his friendships is sincere and 
lasting. 

;\lr. Markman was married February 24, 
1901, to Miss Myrtle Strong, daughter of Charles 



youngest attornev who e\'er tried a case in court .Strong of Chicago. 



HON. HERNANDO DESOTA MONEY 

CARRULLTUN, MISS. 

H'ln. Hernando D. Money, L^nited States forty-fifth, forty-sixth, forty-se\'enth and forty- 

senattjr from jMississippi, was born August 26, eighth congresses, or ten years in all, and then 

1839, in Holmes coimty, Mississippi, and is a son practiced law in \\'ashington eight years, or until 

of Peirson and Triphena Money. His education 1893, when he was elected to the fifty-third and 

was completed at the Uni\'ersity of Mississippi, at later to the fifty-fourth congress. January, 

Oxford. He is a lawyer and a planter; served in 1S96. he was elected to the Cnited States senate 

the Confederate army from the beginning of the for the term beginning March 4, 1899. was ap- 

war until September 26, 1864, when he was pointed to the senate October 8, 1897, to fill the 

forced to retire from service from defective eye- vacancy caused by the death of Hon. J. Z. George 

sight. From 1865 to 1875 he was a planter and on August 14, 1897: elected by the legislature to 

editor, and in the latter year was elected to the fill the unexpired term entiing ]March 3, 1899, and 

fcirty-fourth congress; was a member als<i of the re-elected to the fifty-severith Congress. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



271 



Senator Money was a private in Company K, in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Hawaii 

Eleventh Mississippi Volunteers, Confederate Archipelago, Cuba, France, Germany and Bel- 
army, at the opening of the war and served later ' gium. He is a Protestant and a strong Demwrat 

as sergeant major and first lieutenant of cavalry. and a leader in his party ranks. 

He has been mayor of W'inona, Mississippi ; has Senator Money was united in marriage 

l)een a Mason from 1879, also of the blue lodge, Noveml>er 5, 1863, to JNIiss Claudia Jane 

council and chapter. He has traveled everywhere Boddie. 



EDWIN ALLSTON MUNGER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




Mr. Edwin A. Munger, ex-president of the 
Hamilton Club and member of the law firm of 
\\'ashl)urn & Munger, has in Iris brief life 
j^pan attained a distinction equaled by few wlnjse 
career cn\-ers so short a period. As a lawyer, 
statesman, leader and orator he 
bears a high reputation that is 
by no means confined to the lo- 
cality in which he li\es. Pos- 
sessed of courteous personality, 
liljeral culture and endowed with 
nil ire than average inborn gifts 
(if eloquence, his friends regard 
liim as a young man of more than 
- — ordinary promise. His advance 

in public life has been rapid and brilliant, and 
his success has brought him distinction commen- 
surate with his years and e.xperier.ce. Agreeable 
and companiimable among his associates, gen- 
erous in disposition, strong and forceful in his 
personal convictions and persistent of purpose, 
few among the rising young lawyers of the state 
or the coming representatives of the people in the 
near future enjoy more well-merited distinction 
or are held in higher esteem. 

Edwin A. Munger was born in Topeka, Kan- 
sas, February 26, 1869, and is a son of Charles 
Phelps and Vestella (Channing) Munger. His 
early education was obtained at the Kansas State 
Agricultural College. Soon after lca\'ing school 



Mr. Munger ser\'ed as a hotel clerk for a while, 
taught school for a time, and in 1889 came t(_> 
Chicago, entering the office of J. Young Scam- 
mon, and afterward attended the Chicago Col- 
lege of Law, from which he graduated and was 
admitted to the bar in January, 1892. Mr. Mun- 
ger has been a member of the Hamilton Club 
since 1894, in which year he \\as a member of 
the house committee. In 1895 he was a director 
and in 1897 and 1898 a member of the jxilitical 
action committee. From 1898 to 1901 he was 
a member of the Third Ward Rq>ublican Club, 
and chairman of the board of directors from 
1900 to 1901 ; a member of the Ytmng- People's 
League of the New Jerusalem church and presi- 
dent of the local league in 1896 and 1897; presi- 
dent of the national league in 1898 and re-elected 
in 1899. He was president of the Hamilton 
CIul), being elected in May, 1901. During the 
term of his office the club had the greatest 
growth in its history. Among other achie\'e- 
UiCnts of the Hamilton Club during this year has 
been the raising of monej^ and purchase and re- 
UKideling of the new clul) house on the corner of 
Clark and Dearborn streets, now one of the finest 
clul) houses in Chicago-. Politically he is a 
strong Republican, and in religion a member of 
the New Jerusalem church, and on its board of 
trustees and a member of its executive commit- 
tee. He was chairman of the ci>minittee on Illi- 



272 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



nois Day, September 16, 1901, at the ran-Ameri- 
caii Exix:)sition, lield at Buffalo, New York. 

Mr. Mungcr was united in marriage in 1892 
to Miss Alamena Siike. They have one child, a 
Ixjy eight years of age. 

As a lawyer !Mr. Munger stands high at the 
Chicago' l;i;u\ where his great earnestness and 
force of manner give him a strong influence. 
lie has a mind of peculiar pOAver, and his argu- 
ments are lucid, logical and clear. He is thor- 
oughly skilled in tlie science which he practices. 
Of great discernment, with a sharp faculty of 



analyzing evidence and a readiness of resource 
in argument, he has attained great prominence as 
a pleader at the bar. He is winning his way 
daily to a position as one of the leading lawyers 
of Chicago by the exercise of a well-cultivated 
mind and ceaseless energy. His home life is 
ideal and he is the soul of geniality. It is this 
quality, as well as his superior ability and 
sterling rectitude of character, that so en- 
dears him to those he meets and makes his circle 
of friends co-extensive witli his circle of ac- 
quaintances. 



HON. ISAAC STEPHENSON 



MARINETTE, WIS. 



In the first lialf of the nineteentii century the 
conditions of life among the people of the north- 
ern states of this country were \-ery different 
from those now existing. The toilers in shops, on 
farms, or in factories of to-day live in the daily 
enjoyment of comforts which were unattainable 
luxuries or entirely unknown to their predeces- 
stjrs of half a ceutury ago. 

Ever}'\\liere in our own land are found men 
Vv'ho have worked their own way from lowly and 
humble beginnings to places of leadersJiip. Not 
un frequently they are found among the trusted 
leaders and represenatives in the councils of the 
State and nation. It is one of the glories of our 
country that this is so. 

Prominent, and in some respects exceptional, 
among the self-made representative men of \\'is- 
consin is the subject of this sketch — a man hon- 
ored, respected and esteeiued wherever known, 
and most of all where he is best known. 

Isaac Stqihenson was born in York countv. 
near Fredericton, New Brunswick. June 18, 1829. 
His father, Isaac Stephenson, was of Scotch- 
Irisli extraction ; his mother, Elizabeth, ncc Wat- 
son, was a native of London, England. His father 



vias a lumberman and farmer, and the boy passed 
his early youth on the farm, assisting his father 
to the best of his ability. He attended the pub- 
lic schools for a short time, but the most of his 
education has been obtained by observation and 
in the school of experience. When fourteen years 
of age he moved to Bangor, Maine, but about a 
year and a half later accompanied Jefferson Sin- 
clair, as a member of his famih', westward, and 
located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he ar- 
rived on November 15, 1845. There the boy re- 
sumed his studies in the common schools, but 
al)OUt the first of Ai)ril, 1846, he accompanied 
Mr. Sinclair to an undeveloped farm, located five 
miles south of Janesville, Wisconsin, where, dur- 
ing that spring and summer, he broke one hun- 
dred and thirty acres of land and helped put in 
four hundred acres of wheat. The f(_)llowing 
year they also put in the same number of acres in 
V heat, but both crops were failures — the first 
being- winter killed and the next ruined by rust. 
Mr. Sinclair having become financially inter- 
ested with Daniel Wells, Jr.. in lands in northern 
Michi.gan. ar(jund Escanaba, the }-outh trans- 
ferred the scene of his labors to that section. He 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



275 



worked hard and faithfully, and during the first 
season drove a six-ox team, Yankee fashion, with 
a goad stick; hauled whole trees, and, incidentally, 
c-ne huntlred and fifty spars that were shipped to 
Chicago and Milwaukee. At that time there were 
n(j lK)ats large enough to load these spars ami 
they were lashed to the sides of the \-essels. In 
1847-9 '1^ ^^'^^' pl^c^J i'l charge of the lumljer 
camps, and in 1850 hegan taking contracts on 
his own account for putting in logs. His life at 
this time was full of hard and perilous work. 
Even at the present time logging is far from a 
pleasant occupation. Frequently has our subject 
been up to his armpits in an icy stream direct- 
irig the course of logs to the boom. The summer 
months, at this time, he occupied by sailing on 
Take Alichigan, and during the warm seasons 
cf 1849, 1850 and 185 1 he sailed on vessels carry- 
ing freight from Chicago and Milwaukee to Es- 
canaba; and before he was twenty-one years of 
age he owned the controlling interest in the 
schooner Cleopatra, which, in 1853, was lost 
aliout a mile south of Chicago. The summer of 
1848 he attended school in Milwaukee. 

He naturall)- became a good judge of the value 
of timl>er lands and explored large sections in the 
upper peninsula of Michigan, locating the more 
valuable tracts. In July, 1848, the first land 
office was opened in n(>rthern Michigan, at Sault 
Ste. Marie, and accompanied by Daniel Wells, 
Jr., anil Jeft'erson Sinclair, he attended the first 
sale and assisted in purchasing large tracts of 
\aluable timber lands on the Escanaba, Ford and 
Sturgeon rivers and on Big Bay d.e Xoquet. In 
1852 it was decided to build breakwaters along 
the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago and Mr. 
Stephenson, associated with N. Ludington & 
Company, cut and delivered, during the years 
1852-3-4-5. the timber that was used in construct- 
ing the first breakwaters built. In 1857 Mr. 
Stephenson discontinued contracting logs and in 
1858 purchased a quarter interest in the property 
and mill owned by N. Ludington & Company. 
15 



Of this business he at once became the manag^erial 
head anil controlling spirit. In 1868 it was de- 
cided to inco'rixjrate the business as a stock com- 
pany and lieing desirous of retaining the prestige 
cf the old firm name, Mr. Stephenson decided to 
call the corporation the N. Ludington Company. 
I'his company is capitalized for $700,000, uf 
which Mr. Stephenson owns a controlling inter- 
est. He acted as vice-president from the time 
of its incorporation until 1883. Since then he 
has served continuously as president. In 1867 
he became interested in the Peshtigo Companj-, 
of which W. B. Ogden, Chicago's first mayor, 
was the largest stockholder. Of this corporation, 
capitalized for $1,500,000, Mr. Stephenson be- 
came vice-president. The comixmy built the larg- 
est woodenware factoiry in the world and con- 
ducted a large and satisfactory business in lumber 
and woodenware until October 8, 187 1, when 
its plant in Peshtigo was destroyed by fire, on 
the same day that the great conflagration in Chi- 
cago de\'oured its retail yards. A loss of nearly 
two million dollars was entailed by these disas- 
trous fires. The mill and village were immedi- 
ately reconstructed. At the time ]\Ir. Stephen- 
son became interested in the Peshtigo Company 
he became convinced that it was feasible to tow 
barges on Lake Michigan. Mr. Stephenson 
proved that his theory was correct and started 
the first tugs on the upi>er lakes. The Stephen- 
son Transportation Company, operalting the 
steamer Boscobel and six Ijarges, resulted from 
his experiments in that direction. Mr. Stq^hen- 
si)n was alsi> instrumental in organizing the Stur- 
geon Bay & Lake Michigan Ship Canal & Har1x>r 
Companw which constructed a canal from Stur- 
geon bay to Lake Michigan. The construction 
of this canal came immediately under the super- 
vision of Mr. Stq>henson, Jesse Spalding and 
the late William E. Strong. 

Mr. Stephenson is the parent of the Menom- 
inee River & Boom Company. This corporation 
handles more logs than any other boom company 



2^6 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



in the world. In 1867 Mr. Stephenson was re- 
(|ue.ste(l by the lumbermen of the Menominee river 
to devise plans for a main boom on the Menomi- 
nee river. This he did and superintended its design 
and construction from start to finish, improving it 
) early. He is president of the company, which 
is capitalized for $250,000. It controls some 
forty dains on the ri\-er and its tributaries, and 
drives all logs on the main ri\-er with its system 
of dams. An idea of the immense quantity of 
logs handled by the company can be obtained 
from the fact that in one year six hundred and 
seventy-five millions of feet of logs were divided 
through the boom. Verj' few men have as many 
large business interests as Mr. Stephenson pos- 
sesses. He has, in addition to those mentioned 
alx)ive, large financial investments in the follow- 
ing: The L Stephenson Company, of Escanaba, 
Michigan, organized about 1886, is capitalized 
for $600,000 and claims him as president and 
manager. In 1873 he organized the Stq>henson 
Banking Company as a State bank, and in 1888 
merged that into the Stephenson National Bank, 
v.hich he tlien organized, with $100,000 capital, 
and now acts as its president. Associated with 
Daniel Wells, Jr., and Charles Ray, of Milwau- 
kee, lie purchased for $700,000 the plant and 
property of the Peshtigo Company and reorgan- 
ized it as the Peshtigo Lumber Company. Of 
tliis he is also president. He was also one of the 
organizers of the Marinette & Menominee Paper 
Company, wdiich is capitalized for $750,000, and 
of which he owns a one-sevenh interest. The 
company's plant consists of three mills and is 
one of the finest in the west. Mr. Stephenson is 
also president of the Stephenson Manufacturing 
Company, which cuts about fifteen millions of 
feet of lumber yearly and is capitalized for $50,- 
000. He has large interests in pine lands in the 
northwest and in Louisiana. The Peshtigo Luni- 
litr Conipan\', of wlficli he is president and has 
one-tliird interest, owns one hundred and thirty- 
six thousand acres of land. The N. Ludington 



Company, of which he has a cr.ntrolling interest, 
and is also president, owns one hundred and thirty 
thousand acres : and in Louisiana he and his asso- 
ciates own one hundred and twenty-five thousand 
acres of pine lands. Mr. Stephenson is interested 
in farming on a large scale. He owns a farm of 
nine hundred acres, five miles west of Kenosha, 
'sVisconsin. On this farm he has one hundred 
h(jrses, twehe hundred sheep, one hundred and 
twenty-five cows, besides other cattle. He is in- 
terested in a creamery near there that makes three 
hundred ixhukIs of butter per day. He also owns a 
farm in the city of Marinette, where he is raising 
fast trotting horses. He placed the first steam- 
boats on the Menominee and its tributaries. The 
tug. Morgan L. Martin, was placed on the Me- 
nominee river by him. He took the first steam- 
boat into Cedar river; the first into Ford river; 
the first in White Fish river, at the head of Little 
Bay de Ncxpiet, and the second steamteat into 
the Escanaba river. 

Politically Mr. Stephenson was formerly a 
Whig, but upon the organization of the Republi- 
can party, 1856, joined its ranks, and has since 
then liecn one of the stanchest advocates of the 
doctrine of true Republicanism. In 1856 he 
stood on the court house steps in Chicago and 
peddled tickets for John C. Fremont and other 
Republican candidates. He has been honoreil 
by his fellow citizens with their political prefer- 
ence, and in 1866 and 1868 ser\-ed in tlie Wis- 
consin general assembly. In 1882 he was elected 
to Congress and after serving three terms of two 
years each declined a renomination. owing to the 
stress of his business affairs. In Congress he 
served on the committees of agriculture, public 
lands and risers and harbors, in addition to other 
mincjr comnnttees. In 1880 he was a dele- 
gate to the Republican national convention, which 
nominated Garfield. For thirty-three ballots, he 
cast liis vote for Blaine, then belit^ving, that the 

old comn\ander was the strongest candidate, he 

, ." ■ ■■ M ".I ./ v' y>'\'i 'n'';n b;! 

twice voted tor Grant, but on the final ballot cast 



in 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



^7? 



his vote for Garfield. In 1892 lie was a delegate- 
at-larg^e to tlie Minneapolis conxention that re- 
nominated Harrison. 

Mr. Step'henso.n has been married thrice — in 
1852 to Margaret Stephenson. Foiir children, 
new living, resulted from this union. In 1873 
he was joined in wetllock to Augusta Anderson. 
Tlire children survived their mother. In 1884 
lie wedded Elizabeth Burns. One son is the issue 
of this man'iage. 

Mr. Stephenson stands as the perfect type of 
generous, symmetrical manhood. All his life 
he has been an exemplification of all that is be-^l 
in the human heart and soul. He is proud of his 
early lalx>rs and delights to recall the days when 
V\ ith a broad-ax he, shoulder to shoulder with 



h.is men, attacked the virgin forests. Although 
possessed of great wealth he never has indulged 
in outside show, but has preferred to live as "a 
man amongst men." 

Such is the biography of one of the most suc- 
cessful men of the northwest. He carved his way 
to fame and fortune unaided and alone by con- 
stant application and hard work. Gifted by na- 
ture with a strong and rugged constitution, he 
led his men into icy streams and through unex- 
plored forests without injury. Blessed with a 
logical mind and possessing a most remarkable 
memory he was enabled to conduct large enter- 
prises successfully and his success is entirely at- 
tril)utal)le to hard and patient work, combined 
with ;i naturallv well-balanced mind. 



LESTER O. GODDARD 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Lester O. Goddard, of the legal firm of Cus- 
ter, Goddard & Griffin, is one of the leading- 
lawyers of Chicago, and one who occupies a 
prominent position in the foremost ranks of the 
legal practitioners of the western metropolis. 

Lester O. Goddard was born at Palmyra, 
Wayne county. New York, in 1845, 'i"*^' ^^''th his 
parents removed to Michigan in 1855. His early, 
education was received in the common schools, 
beginning in New York and continued in Mich- 
igan, while later it was supplemented by a course 
in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, 
where he matriculated in 1863 and graduated in 
1867. In i86y he began the study of law in the 
same university, and in 1870 came to Chicago 
and entered the oflfice of James M. Walker, gen- 
eral council of the Chicago, Burlington & Ouinc)- 
Railroad Company. Mr. Goddard's relations 
with this road continued for a term of twenty- 
six years, during which time he was connected 
with both the legal and operating deparbuents. 



In 1 88 1 he was admitted to the bar, and from 
1883 to 1887 was the assistant solicitor of the 
road, from 1887 to July, 1896, he was assistant 
to the first vice-president, and during this twenty- 
six years Mr. Goddard assisted in the growth 
of that road from one thousand to seven thousand 
five hundred miles, and during this same time — 
being the formation period of western railroads — 
all the problems affecting the life and death 
struggles of railroads for existence, and for pro- 
tection from excessive granger legislaticju in the 
western states, passed through his office. 

On the death of William J. Campbell, who 
had beeri associated with Mr. Jacob R. Custer 
and Mr. Joseph A. Griffin, he became a member 
O'f the firm of Custer, Goddard iv Griffin. In 
taking this stej) he was governed largelv b\- the 
advice of Mr. Philip D. Armour, who for a num- 
ber of years had ret.iined the firm as general 
Counsel for Armour S; Companv. 

The large business of so great a firm naturally 



278 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



involves considerable litigation and need of legal of civil law. Mr. Q^ddard is a memljer of the 

advice, and in this connection Mr. Goddard has Chicago and Union League Clubs, and of the 

been engaged since he entered this firm in many Society of Colonial Wars and Mayflower De- 

of the most important cases which have appeared scendants. He is very popular in social circles. 

l)ef(ire the courts. He has also carried on a large Mr. Goddard was united in marriage, in Oc- 

private practice as a general ])ractiti()ner, his ef- tober, 1871. to Miss Martha E. Sterling, of 

t\)rts, however, being largely in the department Monroe, Michigan. 



HON. ROBERT LAIRD McCORMlCK 

HAYWARD, WIS. 



Hon. Robert Laird McCnrniick. of Hayward, 
Wisconsin, capitalist, lumberman, banker and one 
of the most widely knnwn and successful men of 
the northwest, has won his present well-merited 
distinction by his resourceful energetic business 
ability. Endowed by nature with strong men- 
tality, trained and developed by education, and 
with many good ad\-antages in the way of friends 
and opportunities, which he has not failed to im- 
prove in the best way, he has won the rich prizes 
for which so many strive but which real merit 
only wins. 

Mr. McCormick is known to the lumber world 
more particularly as the secretary and treasurer 
of the North Wisconsin Lumber Company, one 
of the largest lumber companies in the north, but 
is also' interested in nine or ten other large cor- 
jx .rations more or less closely connected with the 
lumber business. 

Robert Laird McCormick was bom October 
29, 1847, on a farm in Clinton county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and is the son of Alexander McCormick 
and Jane Hays ( Laird ) McCnrniick. There is un- 
doubtedly much in heredity. Mr. McCormick's 
ancestors were of giMxl stock. His great-grand- 
father. John McCormick, was lx>rn in Ireland, 
but came to this country at an early age and 
joined the Re\olutionary army from Pennsyl- 
vania, becoming an ensign or third lieutenant. 
One of his great-grandfathers. Colonel Hugh 



White, was a colonel in l)oth the Revolutionar\- 
war and in the war of 1812. His mother's father 
was a Laird, of Scotch descent, but a Pennsyl- 
vania Quaker. His father, Alexander McCor- 
mick, resided on a farm near Lock Haven, Penn- 
sylvania, and was a soldier of the Civil war. 

Mr. McCormick was educated at the high 
school. Lock Haven, Pemisylvania ; at the Tusca- 
rora Academy, Mifflin, Pennsylvania, and at the 
Saunders Military Institute, West Philadelphia, 
Pennsyhania. Wlien the war broke out he was 
but a boy of thirteen, yet he wanted to enlist, and 
ran awa}- from home and stayed several days at 
Camp Curtin, at Harrisburg, in the hope that he 
would be able to join a regiment going to the 
front, but his parents took him home. On leav- 
ing school Mr. McCormick first took a position 
at Lewisburg, Pennsyhania, as office clerk with 
the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad Company, now 
the Pennsyhania Railroad Company. In the 
spring of 186S he went west to Winona, ]\linne- 
sota, and took charge of the office of Laird, Nor- 
ton Conii)an_\', lumber manufacturers. He 
spent six years in Winona, but finding the close 
confinement of office work injurious to his health, 
in the fall of 1874 he went to Waseca, Minne- 
sota, bought a lumber yard and entered the retail 
hnnber business. He also acted as auditor for 
Laird, Norton Company and located many new 
vards in Minnesota and South Dakota, in some of 




El".^ bv ! !?^-.ry In^jfcr Jr CtK=ig= 



/ ^V%'^<^^^^''^^_ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



281 



w liicli lie was personally interested with the com- 
pany. He was also interested in the large stone 
qnarries of W. B. Craig & Company at Mankato, 
Minnesota. In the fall of 1881 he first com- 
menced the mannfacture of Inmber at Hayward, 
Wisconsin, forming the North Wisconsin Lum- 
ber Company. Fifteen townships hcaxily tim- 
Ixred in the vicinity of Hayward were purchased 
frcim the Omaha Railroad. Mr. Hayward was a 
memljer of the company until 1885, when he dis- 
posed of his interests to Capt. Robinson, a banker 
of Rock Island, Illinois, who is now represented 
in the company by his son, J. F. Robinson. With 
these exceptions, the members of the North W^is- 
consin Lumber Company remain as they were 
originally, including Fred Weyerhaeuser, R. L. 
McCormick, W. H. Laird, M. G. and James L. 
Norton. The late Hon. Philetus Sawyer, of Osh- 
kosh, was then vice-president of the "Omaha," 
and the county in which Hayward is the county 
seat and in which a large part of the company's 
timber stood was named for him, and through 
him the negotiations on the part of the railroad 
were conducted. The North Wisconsin Lumber 
Company's tim1>er was located tributary tO' the 
Namekagon river, which gave tlie name "Name- 
kagon soft pine." which has since made the North 
Wisconsin Lumber Company famous. The mill 
was completed and began sawing early in 1883, 
and since that time the coanpany has manufac- 
tured over se\en hundred million feet of lumber, 
and (luring this time Mr. McCormick has been the 
active manager of its afifairs. 

Since the founding of the North Wisconsin 
Lumber Company Mr. McCormick and Mr. 
Frederick Weyerhaaiser have ]^en associated to- 
gether in a large number of business ventures. 
Together they established the Sawyer County 
Bank at Ha3rward, of which Mr. McCormick is 
president, and which is strongly backed, as its 
"responsibility is unlimited." Mr. McCormick is 
also interested with Mr. Weyerhaeuser, and is 
president of the Mississippi and Rum Ri\er 



Boom Company, Minneapolis; also of the North- 
ern Boom Company, Brainerd, Minnesota ; vice- 
president of the St. Paul Boom Company, St. 
Paul, also the Flambeau Land Company, Chip- 
pewa Falls, Wisconsin ; secretary and treasurer 
of the Mississippi Ri\-er Lumber Comi)any, Clin- 
ton, Iowa. A short time ago Mr. McCormick 
was largely instrumental in Ijringing alxiut the 
purchase of the immense tract of timber in the 
state of Washington by Mr. Weyerhaeuser and 
his associates and the formation of the Weyer- 
haeuser Timber Company, with headquarters at 
Tacoma, Washington. Of this concern Air. Mc- 
Cormick is secretary. Besides being a lumber- 
man and banker, Mr. McCormick is extensively 
engaged in the grain trade, and is secretary and 
treasurer of the Northern Grain Company. It 
has elevators and warehouses in Wisconsin and 
Minnesoita, Iowa, Nebraska and Dakota, with 
headquarters and general offices in Chicago. He 
is also treasurer of the New Richmond Mill Com- 
pany, which has flour mills at New Richmond, 
Wisconsin; and vice-president of the Duluth Mill 
Company, of Duluth, Minnesota. 

Mr McCormick is a man of interesting per- 
sonality and great popularity, a clear thinker and 
affluent sixjaker, an able and puljlic-spiritecl citi- 
zen. He has never been a politician, but is a firm 
supporter of Republican party principles. Dur- 
ing the entire time he resided in Waseca, except 
the first year, he was mayor of the city, and was 
elected to the state senate of IMinnesota in 1880 ■ 
and served through two* regular and two extra 
sessions with credit to himself and great satis- 
faction to his district. He was sent as a delegate 
in 1900 from the tenth Wisconsin district to the 
national Republican convention, Philadelphia. 

With all his great business interests, Mr. Mc- 
Cormick is an earnest student and deeply inter- 
ested in educational matters, giving of his time 
and means toward their advancement. He spends 
many happy hours with his l)ooks in his fine 
lil)rary at his home at Haywarcl. It is his desire 



282 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



in the near fnture to escape fnnn bnsiness cares 
entirely and devote his entire attention to study, 
travel and historical writing. He has de\-oted 
much time and research to the early histor}^ of 
the explorers and discoverers of this country, 
particularly in the Lake Superior region. A feu- 
years ago, at the request of the State Historical 
Society of Wisconsin, of which lie is president, he 
prepared and published a "Press Plistory of Saw- 
yer County," and his recent hrcichurc on "Evolu- 
tion of Indian Education" has l)een heartily en- 
dorsed by the Indian department of the govern- 
ment. He is president of the school board of 
Hayward and also of the Hayward Library As- 
sociation, and president of the Ashland .\cademy 
at Ashland. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, 
past master Keystone Lodge, No. 263, F. & A. 
!M., Havward. \\^isconsin ; past high priest Tyr- 



ian Chapter, No. 26, \Vaseca, Minnesota; past 
E. Commander Cyrene Commandery, No. 9, 
Knights Templar, Owatonna, Minnesota ; i>ast 
grand commander Knig-hts Templar, Miiuiesota. 
He is a memljer of the order of the Mystic Shrine 
and also of the Sons of Veterans, and through 
his ancestry is a member of the Society of the 
War of 1812, being a charter member of the Chi- 
cago chapter, and also of the Minnesota Society 
of the Sons of the American Revolution. 

Mr. McCormick was married July 10, 1870, 
to Miss Anna E. Goodman, of Ohio, and they 
have two sons, \Mlliam L. McCormick, born 
June 17, 1876, and elected a member of the Wis- 
consin legislature in the fall of 1900; and Robert 
A. IMcCormick. born August, 1885, who is now 
at Beloit College, Wisconsin, finishing his edu- 
cation. 



WILLIAM HENRY FROCHLICH 

MADISON, WIS. 



One uf the best-known men of the state of 
Wisconsin is the efficient and popular secretary 
of state, Mr. William H. Frochlich. His name 
is prominently associated with many public enter- 
prises and business corporations. The notable 
success he has achieved and the 
high honors which have been 
conferred upon him are the best 
evidence O'f his ability. 
_tl ^^■'illianl H. Frochlich was 

Ixirn at Jackson, Washington 
cnunt)'. Wisconsin, June 22, 1857, 
and is a son of Balthaser and 
'Anialia Grosskopf Frochlich. He 
was educated privately and at 
parochial public schools at Jack- 
son and in the Spencerian Business College at 
Milwaukee. He first clerked as a salesman in a 
retail mercantile house at Milwaukee from 1874 




to 1877, after leaving the Spencerian Business 
College. He was assistant bookkeeper for the 
well-knijwn dry goods house of T. A. Chapman 
& Company, of Milwaukee, from 1878 to 1880, 
when he established himself in the general mer- 
chandise and grain business at Jackson, Wiscon- 
sin, with J. G. Frank, under the firm name of 
J. G. Frank & Frochlich. He withdrew from this 
business in igoo. He is secretary and treasurer 
of the Jackson Butter and Cheese Company, a 
corporation operating several creameries, which 
company he organized in 1893. Mr. Frochlich 
was postmaster of Jackson from 1881 to 1893, 
justice of the peace from 189 1 to 1899, town 
clerk from 1893 to 1899, member of the assembly, 
1895, 1896, 1897 and 1898, and secretary of the 
state of Wisconsin since January 2, 1899, which 
position he ni>\\ fills. He is a member of several 
local clubs and musical societies. His religious 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



283 



views are Lutheran and ])i)litically he is a stanch 1879, tO' Miss Clara Frank, of Jackson, Wiscon- 

RejHiblican. His [wlitical record is clear and sin. They have a family of eight cliildren. 

above reproach. He is a leader in his party and .John A., Alfred li., Paul E., Amelia P., W'ill- 

h^s assisted in many hard-fought campaigns. iam L., Robert J., Minnie J. and George W. 

,,j ;,;^flr, Frochlich was married September 21, Frochlich. 



DANIEL J SCHUYLER 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



Daniel J. Schuyler's entire life has been de- 
voted to his profession, the law, in which he has 
been engaged for over a third of a century. His 
has been a life of untiring activity. 

]\Ir. Schuyler was born on a farm' in New 
York state, near the town of Amsterdam, Feb- 
ruary 16, 1839, and is a son of John Jacob and 
Sally Ann ( Davis) Schuyler. 

The Schuyler name appears most prominently 
in the history of the United States, commencing 
with that O'f Philip Pieterson Van Schuyler about 
1649, '^^'ho was the first of that name to come 
to this country and was among the Dutch emi- 
grants who, leaving their native Holland, settled 
where the city of Albany, New York, now 
.stands. The Schuylers took a very prominent 
part in the conduct of Colonial affairs. When 
Albany became an incorporated city in 1686, the 
first m'ayor was a Schuyler, who continued in of- 
fice eight years, and was afterwards president of 
the King's Council in New York, acting govern- 
or, a member of the New York assemlily and 
commission of Indian affairs. 

General Philip Schuyler rendered imiiortant 
service to the nation and endeared his name to 
every true American by his actions in the struggle 
for independence, being conspicuous as a soldier 
in the field, a member of congress and afterwards 
United States senator from Xew York. He was 
noted for his bravery and devotiun tn the cause 
<if libert\'. and did nnicli tn la\' the sulid fnunda- 
lion of our g"t<at republic, He has been st}led 



"the father of the canal system of the L'nited 
States" for his lifelong advocacy of the develop- 
ment of the resources of the country through a 
skillfully planned system of internal improve- 
ments. 

One 1)ranch of the Schuyler family, descend- 
ants of the noted colonist, Philip Pietersen Van 
Schuyler, located in New Jersey, just before the 
Revolution, and it is to this branch that our sub- 
ject belongs. He was born on a farm that had 
been located bv his great-grandfather, and from 
his father he inherited the sturdy physique, in- 
dustry, integrity and force of character. His 
early education was obtained in the schools near 
his home. 

In his early boyhood he manifested marked 
ability in literature, taking especial delight in 
history and travels. He essayed literature, and 
his essays and poems were frequently published 
in the village newspaper. He eagerly embraced 
every opportunity for further education, took a 
six months' course in the Academy at Princeton, 
New York, .\fter an interval on the farm he 
pursued his .studies at the .\cademy at .\mster- 
dam, followed by study in Franklin, Delaware 
county. New York. He ne.xt matriculated in 
L^nion College. Schnectady, New York, where he 
remained until 186 r. His choice of a profession 
was the law and later he entered the office oif 
Francis Kernan. of LTtica, New "S'ork. one of the 
must distinguished and able lawyers of the state. 
Under Mr. Kernan's direction ]\Ir. Schuvler con- 



284 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



tinned his readinti^s until 1864, wlien lie was ad- 
mitted ti' the har. He remnved to Chicago and 
has practiced there ever since. He practiced alona 
for a time, and in 1872 formed a partnership with 
Judge George Gardner, which continued until 
1879, when the latter was elected judge of the 
superior court. 

Mr. Scluiyler then formed a partnershij) with 
Mr. C. ]*;. Kremer, and this partnership con- 
tinued until October i, 1898. Since that time 
Mr. Schuvler has been practiciu'.;' with his son, 
Daniel J. Schuyler. Jr., under the firm name of 
D. J. & D. J. Schuyler, Jr. 

Mr. Schuyler is regarded as one of the fore- 
most trial lawyers of the state, hut has also de- 
voted himself largely to commercial, corpor'ation 
and fire insurance law, and in the domain of the 
last named his opinions are regarded by insurance 



men as authority. In this branch his success has 
been great and he has tried many cases which 
have inv'olved large amounts and intricate ques- 
tions of law. His keen power of- analysis en- 
ables him to arrange readily the strong points in 
a case as evidence and use them with effect. As 
an orator he has great ability. 

In 1865 Mr. Schuyler was united in marriage 
to Miss ]\Iary J. Byford, second darghter of Dr. 
William II. Byford, and to them were born four 
children, two of whom are living. 

In 1897 Mr. Schuyler assisted in organizing 
the Hiilland Society, of which he is an active 
member and has been vice-president and presi- 
dent. He has always manifested deep interest 
in political questions and is a steady supporter of 
the Republican party. He is a memljer of the 
Hamilton Club. 



HON. MARTIN PATTISON 

SUPERIOR, WIS. 



The state of Wisconsin has many representa- 
tive men, and one of these, perhai)s one of the 
best-known men of the northern part of the state, 
is the Hon. Martin Pattison, of Superior, e.x- 
mayor, capitalist and philanthropist, and one of 
the largest land owners in the state of Wiscon- 
sin. Martin Pattison was born in Niagara 
county, Canada, January 17, 1841. His parents 
w-ere natives of New York state. In 1852 Mv. 
Pattison removed with his parents to Michigan, 
where he attended school. He later engaged in 
lumbering, first as a common lalxirer, foreman 
and superintendent, and finally engaging in the 
business himself, first in a moderate way and 
finally on a large .scale. In July, 1879, he moved 
to Superior. Wisconsin, and located on land 
south of the city, and purchased several thousand 
acres of pine land, fron. which in the winter of 
1879-80 he got out sc|uare timber for the English 



market and engaged in logging on an extensive 
scale. It is a matter of history that Mr. Pattison 
was the first man to utilize the Black river in 
Douglas county for logging purposes. In 1882 
he sold out his logging interests and gave his at- 
tention to \'ermillion Iron Range in Minne- 
sota, on which he spent the following three years 
pr(is])ecting. In 1883 he located the famous 
Chandler and Pioneer group of mines. He is to- 
day the largest indixidual holder of developed 
and recognized iron lands in his state and derives 
a large income from the same. 

Po'liticallv Mr. Pattison is a Republican. 
AX'hile he resided in the state of Michigan he was 
elected a member of the school board at the age 
of twenty-one years, and served by re-election six 
consecutive years. He also- served a term of two 
years in the legislature of that state. In 1884 
he was elected sheriff of Douglas county, Wis- 






"V-L 




z^-^^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



287 



consin, served two years, and in 1890 was elected 
mayor of Superior, Wisconsin, and re-elected in 
1 89 1. On retiring from this office, the Superior 
Leader, in an editorial, says: "Mr. Pattison, now 
retiring mayor of Superior, goes out of office 
leaving the city in' the best of financial shape, 
not a dollar of floating debt, sinking funds all 
full, not an unsold bond nor unfinished contract, 
the fire dq)artment fully equiijjied, the credit of 
the city O. K.. and thrce-(|uarters of a million 
dollars in the treasury." He was again, for the 
third time, elected mayor in April, 1896. Mr. 
Pattison has been a member of the Republican 
state central committee and a member of the ex- 
ecutive committee of that body. 

May 17, 1879, Mr. Pattison was united in 
marriage at Marquette, Michigan, tO' Miss Grace 
E. Frink, a native of Canada, and a daughter o^f 
Reuben M. Frink. She is a lady of refinement 
and stands for all that is noble and true. Their 
beautiful home, "Fairlawn," fronting on Su- 



perior bay, is one of the finest private residences 
on Lake Superior, and represents an outlay of 
$125,000. Its beautiful interior finish and many 
treasures of art and handsome furnishings bear 
testimony of culture and refinement. Tbey have 
had eight children, Martha Grace, Byron Martin, 
Ethel Mary, Alice Irene, Myrna Emmarilla, 
Vyrna Margaret, Leda lone and Lois May, the 
four last named being two pairs of twins. All 
are now living except Vyrna Margaret and Leda 
lone. 

Mr. Pattison is a lil)cral contributor to the 
churches and to everything calculated to ad- 
vance the interests of his home city. All chari- 
table enterprises receive his hearty and substan- 
tial support. He is a Mason of high standing, 
being a member of Wisconsin Consistory, thirty- 
second degree. Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias 
and Order of Elks. 

Such, in brief, is a sketch of one of Wiscon- 
sin's illustrious citizens. 



JOHN H. HAMLINE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Mr. John H. Hamline was born in Schnec- 
tady. New York, on the 23d day of March, 1856, 
and completed his literary education by gradu- 
ating at the Northwestern University of Evans- 
ton, Illinois, in 1875. He then entered the 
Columbia College Law School and was gradu- 
ated in 1877, and the same year was admitted to 
the bar by the supreme cnurt of Illinois. In 1892 
he was admitted to practice in the United States 
supreme court. During his career he has been 
interested as counsel in some of the most im- 
portant litigation that has l)een heard in the 
courts of the state. With the long line of decis- 
ions from Marshall down, by which the consti- 
tution has been expounded, he is familiar, as 



should be all thoroughly skilled lawyers. He is 
at home in all departments of the law, from the 
minutae in practice to the greater topics wherein 
is involved the consideration of the ethics and 
philosophy of jurisprudence and the higher con- 
cerns of jniblic policy. 

Mr. Haniline has served as corporation coun- 
sel for the city of Evanston from 1880 to 1884, 
and was alderman from the third ward of Chi- 
cago from 1887 to 1889. He is a valued mem- 
ber of the Union League, Chicago, University, 
Columl>ia. Chicago Literary. Sunset, Hamilton 
and Law Clubs, and at different periods between 
1890 and 1897 has ser\ed as president of the Chi- 
cago Law Club, Chicago Law Institute, Chicago 



288 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association passage of the civil service refomi act. 

and the Union League Club. While presi- While president of the State Bar Associa- 

dent of the Union League Cluh he organized tion he secured the consolidation of the su- 

and (lireclcd the mo\-ement which secureil the prenie court. 



FRANK HAMLINE SCOTT 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Frank H. Scott, member of the law firm of 
Hamline, Scott & Lord, of Chicago, was born at 
Tipton, Iowa, January i, 1857, and is a son of 
Washington S. and .\melia F. (Klein) Scott. 
He was educated at the Northwestern Univer- 
sity at Evanston, Illinois, and at 
the Northwestern University 
Law School of Chicag'o. The 
famil\- removed to Evanston 
from "Sh. Pleasant, Iowa, in 
i8()4 and to Chicago in 1880. 

Mr. Scott was admitted to 
the bar in 1878, and in 1886 
formed a partnership with John 
H. Hamline, the firm being Ham- 




line & Scott, and subsequently became Hamline, 
Scott & Lord by the admission of Mr. Frank E. 
Lord. 

Mr. Scott stands high at the bar of Illinois. 
He is vice-president of the municipal Voters' 
League, ex-president of the Illinois Civil Serv- 
ice Reform Leag^ie and a member of the Uni- 
\ersity. Union League, Chicago Literary and 
Chicago Law Clubs, and of the Chicag(j His- 
torical Society. Politically Mr. Scott is a Demo- 
crat. 

;\Ir. Scott was married October 12, 1882, to 
Miss Edith Kriliben, of St. Louis, Missouri. 
ThcA- have had three children, two of whom are 



JAMES E. KANOUSE 

TOWNSEND, MONT. 



James E. Kanouse, president of the State 
Bank of Townsend, Montana, was born at Wood- 
stock, New Jersey, December 18, 1845, and is a 
son of Jacob A. and Hannah H. Kanouse. He 
was educated in the Waterbury high school, 
Waterl)ury, Connecticut. In 1855 the family 
moved to Lexington, Illinois, and his father en- 
gaged in farming. At sixteen, on the breaking 
out of the reljellion, our subject enlisted in the 
Eleventh Illinois Cavalrv at Peoria, under Cnl. 
Iviliert G. Ingersoll, participating in battles nf 
I'ittslmrg Landing, Corintli, luka, Sherman's 
first raid in rear of Vicksburg to Grenada, and all 



the other engagements of the regiment. He 
served on the staff of General Rosecrans at 
second battle of Corinth as dispatch bearer to the 
Sixth Division ; was sergeant Company D, Elev- 
enth Illinois Cavalry, and was honorably dis- 
charged at Memphis, Tennessee, at the end of the 
third year's service. 

In 1867 he crossed the plains with a cattle 
train. In 1887 and 1888 he was a member of the 
house of representatives for the eleventh session. 
M(jntana territorial legislature, and in 1889 and 
1890 was a member of the constitutional con- 
vention, 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



289 



Mr. Kanouse is a lawyer enjoying a large 
practice. He is connected with many business 
enterprise in his state: is president of tiie State 
Bank of Townsend since its incorporation in 
1899: is largely interested in mines, ranches, 
sheep, horses and cattle. Politically is a Demo- 
crat of the Bryan school. Member of the K. of 
P., since 1888, Past C. C. "Broadwater Lodge." 



Member G. A. R., Wadsworth Post, Helena, 
Montana, since 1900, and resides on his home 
ranch three miles south of Townsend, on the Mis- 
souri river. 

Mr. Kanouse was married in 1867 to Miss 
Nannie Ballard, of Chicago, Illinois. They have 
three children : Charles A., Alice and Clara 
Kanouse. 



FRANK ELMER LORD 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Frank E. Lord, junior niemljcr of the law 
firm of Hamline, Scott & Lord, was lx)rn at 
Dan vers, Massachusetts, December 12, 1861, 
and is a son of Edward A. and Nancy E. (Board- 
man) Lord. Edward A. Lord is a native of 
Ip.swich, Massachusetts, and his 
wife was from Danvers. Frank 
E. Lord was educated at the 
Holton High School, Dan\-ers, 
Salem High School, Salem, M'as- 
sachusetts, and at the Northwest- 
ern University, of Evanston, Illi- 
nois, taking a classical course and 
graduating with the degree O'f A. 
B. in 1883. He then read law in 
the office of Mr. Frank H. Scott, his present part- 
ner, was admitted t<v j)ractice in 1886. and in 




1889 became a memlier of the firm of Hamline, 
Scott & Lord. In practice Mr. Lord has made a 
specialty of chancery, real estate and corpora- 
tion matters. He has been a director of the 
Evanston Public Library, E\anston Hospital 
and other organizations there. 

Mr. Lord is a member of Beta Theta Pi fra- 
ternity. Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. Union 
League Club, Chicago' Athletic Association and 
Evanston Club. He has traveled extensively in 
nearly every state in the Union and been sev- 
eral times to the West Indies. He was brought 
up in the Congregational church, but is lib- 
eral in religious matters. Politicall}' he is a 
stanch Republican. Mr. Lord has been a resi- 
dent of Evanston, Illinois, since 1879, '"""^ i^ a 
bachelor. 



HON. JOSEPH E. GARY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Judge Joseph E. Gary, the oldest jurist now of the anarcliists and in accordance with the ver- 

on the bench in Chicago, has served in the su- tlict of the jury condemned them to death. No 

perior court since 1863 without a break until the judge ever worked harder or has ever performed 

present time. He has not only proved himself greater services. He is eighty vears of age, but 

a great judge, but one of the best posted men the weight of years has not borne him down, 

of his time. He presided at the celebrated trial and all his powers are unabated. 



290 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



EDWARD SWIFT ISHAM 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Tlie late Edward Swift Isliam. funiierly 
sciiinr inenil)er of the tirni of Isliam, Lincoln cS: 
Bcale, was. Ixirn at Benning-ton, Vermont. Jan- 
uary 15, 1836. Hi.s American ancestrj- had its 
beginning- with Jolm Isham. a native of North- 
ampton-shire, England, who. coming first to 
Newl)uryi>ort, settled afterwards in Barnstable. 
Massachusetts, and was there married December 
16, 1667, to Jane, daughter of Robert Parker, 
of Barnstable. This pioneer's will was admitted 
to probate at Barnstable Octol>er 10, 1713. His 
second son, Isaac Isham. was Ijorn in Februarw 
1682, and was married May 3, 1716, to Thank- 
ful, daughter of Thomas Lumbert. Jr.. and his 
V ill was pro-bated at Barnstable August 5, 1771. 
The third son of Isaac Isham was John Lsham, 
born in Barnstable August 6. 17JI. who in his 
youth moved to Colchester, Connecticut, where 
he married, Deceml^er 19, 1751, Dorothy, daugh- 
ter of Ephraim Foote, of that town, and died 
March 2, 1802. He commanded a company of 
colonial soldiers in the b'rench and Indian war. 
His son, Ezra Isliam, born in Colchester March 
^5 ^77Z- settled in Manchester, Vermont, in 
1/95! f^'' ^ little later, and was for many years 
the leading physician of that region, his death 
occurring I'ebruary 8, 1835. Dr. Ezra Isham 
was married June 21, 1801, to- Anna I Nanc\- ) 
Picrpont, a daughter of Robert Pierpont, of 
Manchester, Vermont, who was the son of James 
Pieqxint, of New Ha\-en and grandson of the 
Rev. James Pierpont. for thirty vears. from 1684. 
pastor of the First church of New Ha\en, and 
of his wife, Mary Hooker, granddaughter of Rew 
Thomas H(M)ker, pastor of the church of New- 
town (now Cambridge). Massachusetts, who 
led the migration of that church to Connecticut 
in 1636, and was the first minister settled at 



Hartford. J;unes Picrpont was the cousin of 
Jonathan Edwards, the younger, of President 
Timothy Dwight, of Vale, and of .\aron Burr. 

Pierpont Isham son of Ezra Isham and Anna 
I'ierpont, was born in Manchester August 5, 
1802, and died in New York Mlarch 8, 1872. 
He married Samanthe. daug-hter of Noadiah 
Swift, M. D., of Bennington, a physician and a 
citizen of much distinction, and a son of Rev. 
Job Swift, D. D., who was a graduate of Yale, 
ir. the class of 1765, and who was called "The 
Apostle of \'ermont." at his death. Pierpont 
Isham becauie a lawxer of distinction and was 
for a considerable period a justice of the supreme 
court of \'ermont. 

lulward S. Is'ham, the subject of this sketch, 
was the eldest son of Judge Pierixjut Isham. His 
early Iwyhoo'd was passed in that l)eautiful region 
bordering New York and ^lassachusetts, among 
the Berkshire hills, until sixteen years of age,, 
when in 1850 and 185 1 he went to the 
rdountains of South Carolina in search of health 
and strength. Returning north he completed his 
lireparatory course at Lawrence Academy, 
Croton, Massachusetts. He matriculated in 
Williams College in 1853. was graduated in 
iS't7 and bv in\itation of the faculty returned 



'837 

there in i860 to delixer a master's oration. He 
was a memlier of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. 
After studying law. while still in college, and 
afterwards at the law school at Han'ard, he 
was admitted to the bar at Rutland. Vermont, 
and came to Chicago in the fall of 1858. He 
had started west intending to locate either in St. 
Louis or in St. Paul. Init on reaching Chicago 
en route and \iewing its possibilities, years passed 
before he e\-er saw St. Paul or St. Louis. After 
a time spent in the law office of Hoyne, Miller 





/y^ f JU^. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



293 



& Lewis, Mr. Isliani in tlie spring of 1859 formed 
a partnership with James L. Stark, a Vermont 
acquaintance, under the tirm name of Stark & 
Isham, whieli lasted until icSOi. Ills ahihtv soon 
g"ave liim a position at the Iku", and l)nsiness 
came to iiim freely. In 1864 he was elected a 
meml^r of the Illinois legislature, and spent the 
greater part of 1865, 1866 and 1867 in Europe, 
and upon his return he resumed his practice. In 
h'ehruary, 1872, the partnership of Isham & 
Lincoln began. In 1886 William G. 1 Scale was 
admitted to- the firm, whicli was then known as 
Isham, Lincoln & Beale. 

Of the many eminent lawyers who have hou- 
orecl the Chicago' har Mr. Isham was one of the 
most noted. He belonged to the inner circle, and 
his pnjfessional life was passed for the most 
I'.art upon the liigher plane of legal work. The 
care of interests in\-olving largely the care of 
l)ersonal trusts, the conduct of imjxjrtant etjuity 
cases, the legal direction of corporate affairs, 
these matters constituted the greater part of his 
jiractice, though he was not infrecpiently en- 
gag'ed in jury cases. His opinions and his coun- 
sel were much .sought for the guidance of large 
financial interests and for the solution of per- 
plexing legal proI)lems. In 1883 Mr. Isham 
argued before Judge McCreary in the United 
States court of Topeka, Kansas, the case of Ben- 
edict versus St. Joseph & Western Railroad 
Company, procuring the appointment of a re- 
ceiver, by which that road was taken from the 
Cnion Pacific and reorganized. His firm was in- 
strumental in procuring from Judge Gresham a 
change of recei\"ers for a portion of the W'abash, 
St. Louis & Pacific Railway s\stem east of the 
Mississippi ri\er. In 1886, during the great rail- 
r(.ad strike. ^^Ir. isham re|)resente(l the Lake 
Shore & Michigan .Southern, securing from the 
federal courts a temporary injunction against the 
principal strikers. 

Among other cases which he argued, some 



of which have become "leading cases," may be 
noted, viz.: P.rine vs. Insurance Company (96 
United States 627), with its connecting ca.se of 
Warner vs. Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance 
Comjiany (109 United States J^S/)- I'iekard, 
comptroller, vs. Pullman Southern Car Com- 
])any (117 United States 34), Rand v.s. Walker 
(Illinois 340), Pullman Palace Car Company vs. 
Texas & Pacific Railroad Company ( i i I'^eclerid 
]\ep. C)25), Union Trust Company vs. Illinois 
Midland Railway Company (117 United States 
434), Kingsbury vs. Buckner (70 Illinois 514), 
Central Transportation Company vs. Pullman 
Palace Car Company (139 United States 24), 
Windett vs. the Connecticut Mutual Life In- 
siu-ance Com])any (130 Illinois Reports 621). 
Pullman Palace Car Company vs. Central 
Transportatiou Company, united States supreme 
court ^lay 31, 1898. 

Almost from its organization Mr. Isham was 
a member of the Chicago Literary Club, and 
]jroduced a number of papers before that IxKly. 
One of his noteworthy pajjcrs appears in the En- 
cyclopedia of Political Science under the title of 
'■S(x;ial and Economic I\elations of Corpora- 
tions." For the New York Historical Society 
he wrote a paper, "Frontenac and Miles Standish 
in the Northwest." In 1898 he read a paper be- 
fore the Vennont Historical Society in the house 
of representatives at Montiielier entitled "Ethan 
Allen; a Study of Civic Authority." 

In 1 86 1 M'r. Isham was married tf> Miss 
Fannie Burch, daughter of the lion. Thomas 
liurch of Little Falls, Herkimer county, New 
"N'ork. There are four children, two of them lK)ys, 
and two girls. Pier|)ont, the eldest son. was 
graduated from the United States Military .Acad- 
emy at West Point in 1887 and was at h'ort Riley 
with the Seventh Cavalry and afterward with the 
Third Ca\alry at San .\ntonia. Te.xas. He re- 
signed from the ser\-ice finally ;md is now pi'ac- 
ticing law. Edward S. Isham, |r.. was gradu- 



294 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST. 



ated from Yale in 1891 and is in tlie business of Mr. Isham died suddenly, February 16, 1902, 

manufacturing electrical machinery in New at the Waldorf-Astoria, in New York City, 
^ ork. where he had been si>ending the winter. 



ADOLPH SORGE, Jr., M. E. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



.Adolph Sorge, Jr., mechanical engineer, of 
Chicago, is a son of Frederick Adolph Sorge 
and Katlicrine (Peters) Sorge. 

He was educated in a private school, Ho- 
hoken Academy, from 1861 to 1871, Stevens In- 
stitute of Technology, 1871 to 
1875, where he graduated with the 
degree of Mechanical Engineer. 
He first learned the trade of 
machinist as volunteer in John 
Roach's Sons and Brooklyn 
Navy Yard ; he was draughts- 
man with William Sellers & 
Company, Philadelphia ; West 
Point Foundry, at Cold Springs, 
New York ; foreman of Machine 
shoj) iif llliss & Williams, Brooklyn; in Europe 
in 1880 and 1881, studying European machinery 
and inlrndncing .\merican machinery. He re- 
Iniilt the cement mills of F. O. Norton, and 
ran the same a year; with Campl)ell Printing 
Press Manufacturing Comi)any until August, 




1885; purchased and ran a machine shop in 
Rochester, New York, until 1891 ; manager of the 
Wood-Mosaic Company at Rochester, New 
Ynrk. until 1894; superintendent Eraser & Chal- 
mers until August, 1895. Mr. Sorge then estab- 
lished himself as consulting engineer and general 
western representative for Cochrane Feed-Water 
Heaters, Cochrane Steam and Oil Separators, 
and Sorge Feed-Water Purifying System, with 
offices in Chicago. April 9, 1902, M|r. Sorge 
sailed for Europe on another extensive business 
trip, to ]x gone for some time. 

Mr. Sorge is a member and founder of the 
Technical Club tjf Chicago, a memlier of Amer- 
ican Society of Mechanical Engineers, Western 
Society of Engineers, \\'estem Foundrymen's 
Association. He has traveled extensively in 
Euro[>e, United States and Canada. Politically 
he is a Republican, a man of independent thought 
and liberal in his views. 

Mr. Sorge was married Decemljer i, 1886, 
to Miss Katie P. Orr. They have no children. 



WILLIAM G. BEALE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



William G. Beale, meml>er of the law firm 
of Isham, Lincoln & Beale, is a representative 
member of the Chicago bar and has l)een actively 
engaged in the practice of law in Chicago for 
eighteen years. As a lawyer, wlm in the 
presentation of his cases before judge or jur\% 
he is strong, earnest and convincing, an expert 



in the examination of witnesses and one who 
gives the cases entrusted to^ his care the deepest 
study and most earnest thought. 

\\'il!iam G. Beale was l>orn at Winthmp, 
Kennebec county, Maine, September 10, 1854, 
and is a son of William and Lucinda (Bacon) 
Beale. His earlv education was received at vari- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



295 



oils schools and Bowdoiii CoIIeg-e, Brunswick, 
Maine, graduating- in 1877 ^^''■h tlie degree 
of A. B. 

Later Mr. Beale came west and was principal 
of the high school of Hyde Park. February, 
1878, he beg'an the study of law in the otTice of 
Williams & Thompson, and was admitted to the 
bar in March, 1881, while still teaching. At the 
end of the school year in July, 1881, he entered 
the office oi Isham & Lincoln as law clerk, and 
in 1885 became a member of the firm, the name 
being" subsequently changed tO' Isham, Lincoln 
& Beale. 

Mr. Beale was a member of the Chicago 
Board of Educatiun from July, 1887, ti) July, 



1890, serving as president of that body during 
the last year of this period and was corporation 
counsel of Chicago' from May, 1895 to April, 
1897. 

P'olitically Mr. Beale is a stalwart Re]>ubli- 
can. He has traveled considerably both in the 
United States and Europe. 

Mr. Beale is a strong lawyer, gifted by na- 
ture with a keen mind, which was developed by 
liberal education, e.xperience and hard study, he 
has steadily advanced along the lines of mental 
activity, and is noted as possessing quick insig'ht, 
superior judgment and resource. He is regarded 
as a good business man and excellent citizen. 
Mr. Beale is a bachelor. 



HON. JAMES M. SHACKELFORD 

MUSKOGEE, I. T, 



James M. Shackelford was born in Lincoln 
county, Kentucky, July 7, 1827, where until the 
age of twelve he secured his early education and 
then was placed by his parents in the Stamford 
University, of Kentucky, and was there tutored 
by the celebrated James F. Barber, kno>wn 
throughout the world as a great educator. At the 
age of twenty-one he was elected by a company 
of volunteers as lieutenant and at the last requi- 
sition of the government in the war of 1848 teu- 
dered himself and company to the service of the 
United States, and as commissioned by the gov- 
ernment as first lieutenant of Company I, Fourth 
Kentucky Regiment of Infantiy. But l^ecoming 
a soldier under the last requisition, he saw* no 
fighting in this war, which was a sad disappoint- 
ment to him. On his return he took up the study 
of law in the office of J. P. Cook and was a little 
later admitted to the bar, practicing together with 
Mi^.'''Cti<bk"tniti! the outbreak of the Civil war, 
wneiri'lTe agaiW shouldered his musket and or- 
gh'rii'ie(5"We^'*r-^enty-fifth Kentucky' Regiment of 



Ir.fantry and was made its colonel. From that 
time until the loss oi his health in the early part of 
the war he distinguished himself as a soldier and 
leader of battle forces, having participated in 
many hot engagements, among which was the 
liattle of Fort Donaldson. Later in the war, when 
he had again recovered his health, he organized 
a company of cavalry in answer to a call of Presi- 
dent Lincoln, and started out to capture Gaieral 
Morgan while on that fami;>us raid through Ken- 
tucky, Indiana and Iowa, which he did in less than 
forty days. His ability was so marked that in a 
few months he was tendered a commission as ma- 
jor, which honor he refused and moved to Indi- 
ana, where he resumed the jiractice of law after 
the war and took an acti\-e part in politics, and 
was elected elector at large and by the electoral 
college carried the vote of Indiana for Garfield. 
On the 26th of March, 1889, he was nominated 
by the president of the United States as the first 
federal judge of the Indian Territory and Okla- 
homa. 



296 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



HON. WILLIAM J. FISK 

GREEN BAY, WIS 



Hon. William J. Fisk, ex-president of the 
Kellooo- National Bank, of Green Bay, Wiscon- 
sin, has for many years been closely identified 
witli the progress and development of his home 
city. He has aided all feasible enterprises that 
Wduld benefit Green Bay, and is justly regarded 
as one of its most enterprising and public-spir- 
ited citizens, and commands that true homage 
and respect wh.ich is ever rendered real worth. 

It is interesting to trace the progress of a 
stout-hearted boy, starting out in life unassisted, 
excq)t by his own indomitable will, and persist- 
ent purpose to succeed, rising step by step, and 
gaining in the hard school of experience the 
kn(jwledge which alone is power. It is this rec- 
ord that offers for our consideration the history 
of a man who, for his probity, usefulness and 
achievements, affords to the young an example 
worthy of emulation. 

Mr. Fisk was born in the village of Bruns- 
wick, Ohio, June 25, 1833; he was the eldest 
of the se\-en children of Joel S. Fisk and his wife 
Charlotte (Green) Fisk. 

In reverting to> tlie genealog}" of Mr. Fisk 
we find that he is descended from a linig line of 
ancestors, who for many generations, in both the 
lineal an<l collateral branches, were Americans. 
They were among the earliest settlers of the 
Colonies, and many representatives have been 
jironiinent in the historv of the nation. A record 
of the Fisk family traces the descent of Mr. Fisk 
to Symond Fisk, Lord of the Manor of Strad- 
bough, Parisli of Fairfield, County of Suffolk, 
England, wIkv lived in the reign of Heurv IV 
and Henry VI (from 1399 to 1422). William 
J. Fisk is a direct descendant of Phineas Fisk, 
Esq., who emigrated to the Colonies in 1637, and 
was one of the first settlers of Weuham, Massa- 
chusetts. He was captain of Militia in Wenham, 



and constable in 1644; Representative to the 
General Court in 1653, appointed "Commissioner 
to end small causes," probably a Justice, in 1654, 
and his estate was settled by w'ill upon his de- 
cease in 1673. His descendants in a large de- 
gree followed professional pursuits, and indi- 
\-idual meml)ers of the family attained [jrominent 
positions in the pulpit. They participated patri- 
otically in the Revolutionary war, in which sev- 
eral meniliers were commssioned officers. 

Mr. Fisk's father was born in St. Albans, 
Vermont, and was a son of Solomon Fisk, who 
settled in northern Vermont. At an early age 
he became a merchant's clerk and followed that 
occupation for several years in New York State. 
He married and journeyed to Ohio, where liis 
eldest child was born. In 1835 he removed to 
Green Bay and engaged in the lumber business 
and also opened a mercantile establishment. He 
was the pioneer luml:)erman in certain sections of 
northern Wisconsin, and Iniilt the first mill at 
De Pere. He also erected tiie first grist mill at 
Fond du Lac. In 1835, while inspecting tiie tim- 
lier and lands of Wisconsin, he walked over the 
territory between Green Bay and Chicago, by In- 
dian trail. He liecame a wealthy and success- 
ful man. He died May 27, 1877, aged sixty- 
seven years. His wife passed away April 5, 
1877. 

Young Fisk attended such schools as the 
community oft'ered untd fourteen years of age. 
From that time on he earned his own living. His 
first position was in a land oftice in Green Bay, in 
1848, and while thus engaged he made the maps 
f<ir tlie reservation of lands for the impro\-ement 
of the Fox and ^^■isconsin rivers. The principle 
of economy was thoroughly ingrafted in him 
through the friendly advice of John Fitzgerald, 
a resident of Oshkosh, and a gentleman who 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



>99 



took a deep interest in llie hny just starting mit 
in life. \\ itli his first \ear's saxins^s young' Fisl< 
pureliased one Innulreil and twenty acres uf land 
and in this manner became a property owner he- 
fore he was sixteen years of age. In 1849 'i*^ 
became an emj)love of a watchmaker and jeweler, 
but finding the work too confining for his health, 
a _\ear later he took a position with a merchant 
of Furt Howard, named John Grey, at a salary 
of $25 per month. After two years in this po- 
sition he attended the institute at Apiilcton, Wis- 
consin, paying f(jr his tuition and board from his 
savings. At the age of twenty he roturned to 
Fort Howard and at once began trading in the 
products brought into that town. He had dis- 
played his self-reliance, and his father, believing" 
that lie could safely make his own way in^ the 
world, encouraged him in that direction by leav- 
ing him to his own resources. During his first 
year he entered inti> a contract with Chancy 
Lamb, now senior member (if the firm of Lamb 
& Sons, of Clinton, Iowa, to furnish him 400,000 
shingles, at $2.50 per tiiousand. Mr. Lamb took 
a deq) interest in the young man and encouraged 
him. He paid him in advance $1,000 for the 
shingles, and Mr. Fisk now says that was the 
largest amount of money he had ever seen at one 
time, and made him feel wealthier than he has 
ever felt since. The money was paid in state 
bank no'tes of small denominations and certainly 
must have appeared cjuite a large amount toi the 
young man. 

In 1853 Mr. Fisk entered the mercantile busi- 
ness in Fort Howard and in 1855 erected a 
sliingle mill. He was the second man t<i manu- 
facture sawed shingles in the west, llis busi- 
ness was ])rosperous, and he felt that he was on 
the high road to prospcril\-, when the panic of 
1857 ]);ir;dyzed the industries of the counitr_\-. 
Mr. Fisk, though perfectly solvent, was badly 
crippled by the panic. Among his possessions 
were 2,000,000 shingles, but there was no market 
for them. He therefore suggested to F. A. 
la 



(joodrich, now the controlling s])irit of ihc (ii Kid- 
rich Transportation Conipan\', to carr\' them to 
Chicago and await a sale. This was done, but 
it required two years lime to dispose of them all. 

In 1862 Mr. Fisk sold out h'is mercantile 
estal)lishment and canvasseil the country in the 
interest of voting bonds for the construction of 
a railroad, lie was known thronghout tlie coun- 
try and assisted materially in having the bonds 
voted. Mr. Fisk took a contract to furnish the 
ties and timber used in constructing the road be- 
tween Appleton and Fort Howard, and also- for 
building the railrcjad conipan_\'s docks and ele- 
vator. Since then he has Ijeen operating con- 
tinual! v with the .\orthwestern Railroad, fur- 
nishing a large amount of timber and ties for 
various divisions of the road. In 1871 he fur- 
nished the material for the construction of the 
road to Marinette, and in the following year did 
the same for the extension- from Menominee to 
Escanaba. When his eider sons grew to^ man- 
hoixl he admitted them into the business, and 
now the firm name is known as W. 1). Fisk iK; 
Co., and' is comijosed of himself and W. 1). and 
Harry W. Fisk, two' of his sons. 

For thirty years Mr. Fisk has been connected 
with the banking" business of Green Bay. In 
1865 he became a stockholder antl director in the 
First National Hank. In 1870 he became presi- 
dent of the City National Bank, and in 1874, 
when that institution was succeeded by the Kel- 
logg National Bank, he became vice-president of 
the latter institution. In 1891 Mr. Kellogg died 
and Mr. Fisk was induced to acce])t the presi- 
dency. This position he occui)ied until January, 
1902, when he retired from: active banking, but 
still retains the same mtei'cst in the bank and re- 
mains a director of it. He has been engaged in 
a great nnnilier of business cnterjirises in Green 
Bay, all of which ha\'e been Ijenefited by his abil- 
itv. Before the advent of railroads from Green 
Bav north, comnnniication was carried on by 
boats in the summer and st.'igcs in the w inter. 1 le 



300 Prominent men of the great west 

was largely interested in the Green Bay & Me- Mr. Fisk was married to Miss J^Iary I. 

nominee Navigation Company, and dnring its Driggs, of Fond du Lac, in 1853, and they had 

existence acted as its snpcrintendent. He owned fonr sons, three now living. Wilhur D. and 

large tracts of timber lands, and at the time of Harry W. are associated with him in business. 

the Peshtigo fire, in 187 1. ten thuusand acres of G. A\'allace is assistant cashier of the Kellogg Na- 

valuable timl>er belonging to him were devoured tional Bank, and Frank S. died in 1881, aged 

b\- the flames; he also lost heavily in the great twenty-two years. The father and each of the 

Chicago fire at the same time. This was a severe sons have a residence in what is known as the 

blow, but, undismayed, he went manfully to work "four-acre lot," the four acres having descended 

and soon retrie\-ed his fortunes. to William J. Fisk from his father. 

Politically Mr. Fisk is strongly Republican, Mr. Fisk is a member of the Masonic fra- 

although of Democratic antecedents. He has ternity, of the Knights Templar degree; he is a 

never sought, nor does he desire, political posi- member of no church, but believes in the power 

tions, but he is one of those who strive to assist of the church for good. The Young Men"s 

others and aims always to assist in the success of Chistiao Association has found in him a friend 

the party. and patron. He donated the fund for the erec- 

He was alderman of the city in early life, lion of their building. 

has filled the position of city treasurer, and was In pri\ate life he is the model of a thorough 

also postmaster from 1862 to 1865. In 1875 he gentleman, his manners are courteous to all. 

was elected a member of the state legislature and and those who have the privilege of knowing 

was re-elected in 1876 and 1877. He was active him intimately thoroughly appreciate the innate 

in opposition to the "Granger" legislation against worth of his character, for his kindliness and 

railroads, and was chairman of the committee of fidelity to frienilship liave attracted to him a wide 

railroads when the famous railroad act known as circle of friends in the cit)- where he has spent 

the Potter law was rejiealed. the greater portion of his life. 



HON. J. BLAIR SHOENFELT 

MUSKOGEE, I. T. 

Hon. J. Blair Shocnfelt was born in Martins- South Dakota, locating at Estelline, here he en- 
burg, Blair county, Pennsylvania, in 1S59. From gaged in the practice of law and also carried on 
the public schools of his native town he went to an extensive banking and investment business, 
the State Normal College at Huntington, Penn- serving four years as judge of his county. The 
sylvania, finishing his education at the University time of his residence in South Dakota was that 
of Indiana. Upon graduation there he entered \-ery important period during which the territory 
the law ofiice of William Johnson, an eminent of Dakota was dixided into North and South Da- 
lawyer, prominent ])olitician and member of con- kota and formed into two states. Mr. Sboenfelt 
gress from Valparaiso, Indiana. Upon the com- was very active in politics at this critical juncture, 
pletion of his study with Mr. Johnson he was ex- gixing effective aid in efforts toward the admis- 
amined and admitted to the bar in Porter county. sion of South Dakota as a state and being a mem- 
Indiana. In the spring of 1883 he removed to Ijer of the constitutional convention. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



301 



Removing to \\'\oming in 1890, Mr. Shoen- 
feit continued the practice of law, for four years 
serving as prosecutor and countv atturney of 
Converse county, anil being prominent in state 
and national politics in Wyoming. 

During these years of active legal and political 
life Mr. Shoenfelt had also many important pri- 
\'ale interests, both east and west, the pr(jsecution 
of which re(iuireil much travel and a consequent 
contact with men of affairs which has especially 
qualified him for the important position to which 
he was called by his appointment as Indian agent 
in .\pril last. The rapidly changing conditions 
in Indian Territorv, which seem trending so irre- 



sistal)])- in the tlirection of speedy statehood, will 
make his experience in the formative periods of 
South Dakota and Wynming in\aluable there. 
Mr. Shoenfelt is of a very pleasing personality, 
courteous as an official, quick to grasp the details 
of matters submitted to him and equally quick in 
arriving at equitaljle ci inclusions. The position to 
which he has been called has vastly increased in 
inipnrtance with the changed conditions brought 
about by the Curtis act. 

In May, 1882, Mr. Shoenfelt was married to 
Miss Anna E. Isenberg, of Peim.sylvania. They 
have two charming daughters and a promising 



WILLIAM BUFORD CARLILE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



William B. Carlile, resilient manager for the 

Mutual Life of New York, is a Iventuckian Ij}- 

birth, and was lx>rn at Lebanon, January 21, 

1870. He is a son of Charles Robert and Mary 

Prudence Spalding Carlile. Mr. Carlile is one 

of the most successful and l.iest- 

knr>wn life insurance men in the 

west to-day. Early in his career, 

as a solicitor in tlic field, he dis- 

tingaiished himself by securing 

for his c(.)miian\ the largest single 

premium in\-ii]\ing ;in iiicli\idual 

life that at that time had been 

paid fcr life insurance. This 

contract, re(|uiring the immediate 

(kposit of >$I36,350 as a i)remium. was jiers.in- 

ally negiitiated by Mr. Carlile with Mr. J;uncs J. 

Hill, the noted railroad president and financier, 

of St. Paul. 

Later Mr. Carlile was api)oinlcd inspector 
of agencies for the United States and Canada 
for the Mutual Life of New York, which posi- 




tion he held until sent west to Chicago to or- 
ganize the western special department for his 
company. During the eleven months of its ex- 
istence he produced si.x millions of new business. 
Appointed to the management of the Chicago 
general agency, following its merger with the 
western special department, Mr. Carlile gave 
stronger evidence of his ability by placing four- 
teen millions of new business on the books of 
his company. 

Mr. Carlile is an able manager anil handles 
his men with great success. He has been in the 
field and knows their requirements, and is never 
t( o busy t(-) look after and care for their needs. 

Mr. Carlile is a member of the Chicago Clul), 
the Union Club, the Washington Park Club and 
other prominent clubs, and prominent in the 
Life Underwriters' Association. 

He was married April 26, 1893, to ^liss Vir- 
ginia Fontaine, third daughter of Noland Fon- 
taine, a retired merchant and banker, oi Mem- 
phis, Tennessee. 



302 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



WILLIAM PORTER VERITY, M. D. 

CHICAGU, ILL. 

Tlie Veritys are nf Englisli descent, the iui- years later, in 1S7C), lie came tn Chicago to> pur- 
mediate ancestors of Dr. Wilhani !'. X'erity set- sue a systematic course at Rusii Medical College, 
tling in Ohio at an early date. Rev. Junathan Dr. Verity took his degree from the ahove 
Verit\- was a prominent evangelist and revivalist named institution in 1879, and upon competitixe 
of the AI. \i. church, and William X'erity, uncles examination received the a])])ointnient i.>f interne 
hotli (if the subject of our sketch, was a brave in the Cook County Hospital, lie completed the 
soldier in the Civil war, during one of its historic full term of service — eighteen months, — and this 
engagements he being the first to scale the breast- cxi>erience, invaluable though it was, nearly 
works of the enemy. ended his earthly career, for w hile performing an 

On his mother's side Dr. Verity is tlescended operati(jn he was accidentally poisoned and the 

from the family of which the cnnncnt jurist, the result was a .serious illness of fully three months. 

Hon. Jeremiah Black, of Pennsylvania, is a rep- At the conclusion of his interneship Dr. Ver- 



itv at once opened an office on Chicago avenue. 
This was in 1S81. and for twenty years he has 
remained in the locality where he originally estab- 
lished his ]>ractice. Althongh this has been of a 
general nature, his professional business has 
drifted largelv into surgical channels, in which 
specialt\- he is runong the most [jromiuent prac- 
titioners on the north side. 

As an indicatitjn of his standing it mav lie 



resentative. The Blacks of Ohio had numerous 
cliildren, and of these four sons also saw honor- 
able service in the war of the Rebellion. One, a 
flag-bearer, was killed in action — shot through 
the heart while leading a gallant charge — and 
another, a cannoneer, won distinction on the 
bloody field of Gettysburg for bravery and 
aliility. 

It was in 1830 that the father of Dr. Verity, 
Matthias, married Miss Cynthia Ann Black, of stated diat Dr. Verity served for three years as 
Ohio, the couple removing to Wisconsin by way consulting surgeon to Cook County Hospital, and 
of the "prairie schooner." On their journey they for some time he has held the ix)sition of surgeon 
passed through the muddy and unattractive but to the Post-Graduate Medical School and Hos- 
even then energetic city at the mouth of the Chi- pital. 

cago river. Like thousands of others, however. Notwithstanding his busy life as surgefm and 

they failed to see in its forbidding exterior any physician. Dr. Verity is cpiite a constant contrib- 
promise of its phenomenal future, and. drifting ntor to such standard perio<licals as the Journal 
north, they settled on the sand hills of Outagamie of the American Medical Association, the iMedi- 
C(.iunty, Wisconsin. It was while residing in the cal Standard, the Xorth American Practitioner 
village of Kaukauna. near Appleton, on the 1st and the Journal of Neurology and Mental Dis- 
of March, 1854, that the parents welcomed the ea.ses. His subjects embrace a wide range, and 
birth of their son, William Porter Verity. After he has read, also, many papers before various 
receiving a district .and a high-school education medical societies which have been widely and 
arid spending one vear as a teacher, young Verity, favorably CiiUimented npun. 

whii. had now att.aincd the age of twenty years. Dr. Verity is, furthermore, a well-known 

began the stndv lif his profession under the member of such ])rofessional organizations as the 
tutelage of Dr. A. H. Levings. of Appleton. Two Chicago Medical Society, the Academy of Medi- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



305 



ciiic, the Clink Cninity lliisi)ital Alumni Associ- straightforward man and physician. Jn iSyo 

aliiin, tlic llhnnis State MecHcal Snciety and tlie ])r. X'eritv was married to .Miss Haltie Bunnell, 

American Medical Association. He ij also a Ma- of Chicago, a granddaughter uf William A. 

son in liigli standing, and, all in all, a busy, able, Goodrich. 



JUSTIN D. BOWERSOCK, M. C. 

LAWRENCE, KANSAS 



One of the foremost men in the making of 
the west is Justin 1). JJowersock, of Lawrence, 
member of congress fmni the secor.d district of 
Kansas, a clear-headed man who believes more in 
doing than in talking, lie |irefers to be con- 
sidered a business man rather than a ]iolitician, 
while in fact, he is bi.ith. However, un.til recently 
he was most widely known on account oi his suc- 
cessful business enterprises, but now his distin- 
guished service in congress is adding fame in a 
new way, for he has carried the same sterling 
qurdities which ha\e dominated his business life 
inti his public duties, which enables him to be 
classed as an astute, far-seeing politician. 

Mr. Bowersock was born in Ohio of Dutch 
and Scf)tch descent. He started in life like very 
man\' of our great men, as a jioor boy. lie at- 
tended the ci mmion schools of ()hio. including 
the county high school. He began work for him- 
self at an early date, for it is related that while 
a young boA*. during one wication he worked for 
se\'ent}-ri\-e cents a week, or twebx' and one-half 
cents a dav over a "picker" in a wool carding es- 
tablishment. The meager wages thus earned 
were turned o\-er to his parents tf> contril)ute to- 
ward the expenses of the household. 

.\fter young Bow'ersoclc bad ci>mplcted his 
course in the common schools he went, in iSrio, 
to Iowa City, Iowa, and engaged in merchandis- 
ing and grain shipping and built up the largest 
trade in that thriving city. Like many other 
sterling per>ple of the northwest he was attracted 
to Kansas and settled in Lawrence in '^^/J- 



The chief inducement was the possibilities 
for water ])o\vcr rmd manufacturing furnished l.)y 
the Kaw ri\er at Lawrence. The great dam 
.'icross the Kaw at Lawrence, which was l)cgun 
in iS/J, had lieen jjartiall}- destroyed three times 
b_\' flood. The last time, on jMay 23, 1877, was 
rt\e days after Mr. Bowersock's arri\al in Law- 
rence. 

Mr. Bowersock imnicdiately bouglit the prop- 
erty, built the dam, maintained it and enlarged 
the Bowersock Flour Mill (mill A), Iniilt the 
Douglas C(junty I'Llevator, iiowersock Mill B 
(m.eal), the Lawrence Paper Mill, and caused the 
water power to be the center of the chief mar.ufac- 
turing industries of Lawrence. 

Mr. Bowersock's business enteri.)rises did not 
stop' with the de\eloi])ment of tlie water ])ower. 
During his first yeiir in Lawrence four of the 
local banks failed. In 1S7S he established the 
Douglas County I'.ank, which for many years had 
a substantial financiai existence and was finally 
merged, in 1890. into the Lawrence National 
Bank, which he organized. He has lx;en diu"ing 
bis business career in Lawrence, president of the 
Lawrence Gas and Electric Light Coni]>any. the 
Consolidated ]>arl) ^\'ire Company, the Lawrence 
Pajier Company and the Commercial Club. .\t 
])resent be is director in each of the above institu- 
tions and picsident of the Lawrence National 
Bank and the Grifiin Ice Company. He is sole 
owner of the Kansas Water Power, Bowersock 
Mills A and B, and the Lawrence Iron Works. 
Thus, as a business man he has been interested in 



3o6 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



nearly all t)f the industrial enterprises of Law- 
rence. 

While Mr. Bowerscjck could not l>e considered 
as a farmer in the lit;iit of a "horny-handed son 
I if the soil." yet incidentally he is a tiller of the 
.soil, nianagiui;" a two-thousand-acre farm in Sa- 
line county. 

As a politici.'ui Mr. Bowersock has always 
been a l\e])ulilican. He has never Ijeen solicitous 
for office, and he never tonk acti\e interest in con- 
ventions until 1898. hut whenever the people 
called him from his business to public duty, nomi- 
nated and elected him to positions of trust, he 
obeyed the summons and served faithfully. He 
was elected mayor of Lawrence twice, serving 
from 1881 to 1885, during which period the city 
was relieved of one hundred thousand dollars in- 
debtedness drawing seven per cent, interest. He 
was a member of the Kansas house of representa- 
tives in 1887, and in 1805 he was elected to the 
state senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death 
of S. O. Thatcher, ^^'hile in the Kansas house 
of representatives I\Ir. Bowersock was instru- 
n)ental in securing the passage of the hill for the 
relief of the Ouantrell raid sufferers — a hill that 
had long been hanging fire and which, to some 
extent, blocked the way to university appropri- 
ations. This brought to Dcniglas county tw^o hun- 
dred thousand dollars. 

In i8g8 Mr. Bowersock was induced to enter 
the race for congress. This was his first begin- 
ning as a political campaigner. He entered with 
vigor into the canvass and went into the conven- 
tion with only thirteen votes, forty-five being re- 
quired to nominate, and came out witli the nomi- 
nation. After a vigorous campaign he was elected 
by- a good majority. He was unanimously re- 
nominated by acclamation in 1900, and this in a 
district noted for long and bitter struggles in con- 
gres.sional coincntions. Dm-ing the first term he 
began active work in congress and introduced, 
among other bills, the anti-canteen bill, which lie- 
came a law, and secured the passage of a bill 



through the house appropriating twenty thousand 
dollars for the State University on account of the 
burning of the Free State Hotel. This was based 
on a claim of the Emigrant Aid Ctmipany, which 
w as assigned to the university. 

At- the opening of the session of the fifty- 
seventh congress he was appointed by the 
s])eaker on a larger numl>er of committees 
than any other congressman. This, in itself 
shows hiiw thoroughlyr he is appreciated as 
a worker in congress, for nearly all of the 
legislative work of this national lx)dy is done 
tlirough committees. He is a member of the 
committees on coinage, weights and measures, 
reform in the civil service, improvements and 
levees on the Mississippi river, alcoholic liquor 
traffic, and Kansas member on special joint com- 
mittee on memorial exercises in memory of Mc- 
Kinlcy. Mr. Bowersock has a great facultv for 
details and undnulitedly will make a record on 
these numerous committees. He gives prompt 
attention toi matters relating to his constituency 
and never fails to answer every letter sent 
him. 

He has recently introduced a hill in the house 
to protect the grazing lands belonging to the 
LTnited States government. It appears from his 
own statement tliat he expected the committee, to 
which it was referred, would remove anv possible 
defects of the 1)ill before it was finally reported 
for its final passage. Nevertheless he is thor- 
oughly convinced of the right of the bill in gen- 
eral. Some have seen fit to criticise him for this 
measure, assunn'ng that it is made in the interest 
of the large stock raisers to the detriment of 
smaller ones. 

Mr. Bowersock has never made any claims as 
a writer or a speaker, but nevertheless he is ready 
in ex])ression, a clear and forcible si^eaker and a 
pungent writer. In l)oth writing and speaking he 
eliminates unnecessary material and drives home 
the essential facts of the case, carrying his audi- 
ence or bis readers with him. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



307 



Mr. Bowersock, like all tj;(M)(l citizens, is inter- member of the fanKJUs "Old and New" Literary 

ested in the cnniinnnity in which he lives. He Clnb of Lawrence. 

has served as president of the I'onimercial Club, He was married in Iowa City, luwii, in 1866, 

Merchants .\thletic Association and board of to Mary Gower. He has a fine family of six chil- 

trnstees of the Plymouth Congregational church dren, four girls and twO' boys. Both sons are at- 

and is now acting in the capacity of director of torneys in active practice, both graduates of the 

each. He has always taken an interest in special L'niversity of Kansas, one a Harvard law gradu- 

enterjjrises for the ad\-ancement of the town. He ate and the other a graduate of the law school of 

has been, fur nearly a ((uarler of a century, a Northwestern Lhiiversity. 



EPHRAIM BANNING 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




Ephraim Banning, an eminent and distin- 
guished member of the Chicago bar, has gained 
a high position in Chicago and throtighotit the 
west as a patent attorne}', and his name is con- 
nected with many important cases in this branch 
of jurisprudence. Ephraim Banning was Ixirn 
in ALcDonoug'h county, Illinois, 
July 21, 1849. His mother was 
a Kentuckian by birth and a sis- 
ter of the late Judge Pinkney H. 
Walker, of the supreme court of 
Illinois : her father was Gilmore 
\\'alker, a lawyer of high stand- 
ing, and her uncle was Cyrus 
Walker, who likewise distin- 
guished himself as an eminent lawyer. Mr. Ban- 
ning's father was a X'irginian by l)irth, who 
mo\ed west in an early day, taking an active part 
in the ])olitical and social i)rol)lcms of Illinois and 
Kansas. From Kansas the faniil_\' moved t(i Mis- 
souri, where they resided during the Civil war. 
Two elder brothers enlisted in the Federal cause, 
while Mr. Banning, then twcKe years of age, re- 
mained to assist his father on the farm. One 
brother lost his life in the ser\-icc, while the other 
served until the close of the war. 

Mr. Banning" attended the schools in the 
neighborhood, and at the age of seventeen en- 



tered the Brooklield Academy, later becoming a 
law student in the office of Hon. Sanniel P. 
Houston, of Bmokfield. In 1871 he came tO' 
Chicago and entered the office of the firm of 
Rosenthal & Pence, in the meantime continuing 
his studies, being admitted to the bar in June, 
1872. October following he opened an office for 
himself and soon had a fair and cmstantly in- 
creasing ])ractice. Some ten years after this he 
began making a specialty oi patent law. In 
1877 he \\as joined by his brother, Thomas A. 
Banning, and in this year he made his first argu- 
ment in a patent case, and in a few years the 
firm of Banning & Planning became widely 
known as successful patent attorneys. Mr. 
Banning has since argued many important cases 
in the United States supreme court and in the fed- 
eral courts at Chicago, New York, Boston, Phil- 
adelphia, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Kansas City, St. 
Paul, Des Moines and many other cities. In 1888 
he made an e.xtendetl tour of Europe and in this 
year Mr. George S. Payson became a member of 
the firm Iwing succeeded in 1894 by Mr. Thomas 
F. Sheridan. Mr. l^>anning is a meml)er of the 
.\mei'ican, .State and Cliicago Bar Associations 
and all other legal tjrganizations. Tn 1896 he 
served as a McKinley elector, and in 1897 was 
appointed a member of the State Board of Char- 



30.S 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



itifs. and in iS(;9 was su])]Kirtecl by a laro-e fol- Mr. P.aniiins;- was marrieil in ()ctnl)cr, 1878, 

1( wing for United States district judge. He is to Miss Liicretia T. Lindsley, who died in Feb- 

a nienilier of tlic Union League, Lincoln and ruary. 1887. leaving tliree sons. Li Sq>teniber, 

Illinois Clubs. In religious matters he is a Pres- 1889. he married Mi.ss Emily B. Jenne, daughter 

bvterian. of the late O. B. Jenne, of Elgin, Illinois. 



THOMAS TELFER OLIVER, M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



1 )r. ( )li\cr is (if I""rench-Swiss stock. His an- 
cestors (named Ollivier), political exiles from 
Switzerland, look refuge in Scotland, locating in 
what is known as the lilack I'orcst District. The 
bearers of the |irc>enl uanie of Oliver, lioth in 
Scotland and .\merica, are lielieved to lie de- 
scended from the ( )lli\iers abo\e luentioned. 

Dr. ( )li\er was one of a large I'amilw his par- 
ents being Roliui't and Is.abclla ( Telfer) Oliver, 
lie was born on .Ma\ 17. iS:;(i. in C'ri ;iiart\'shire, 
North Scotland, where his childhood was spent 
until his seventli year, at which time his family 
emigrated to Canada, first settling in Quebec. 
Later, about 1847. the\- again luoved further 
west and settled permanently in (')ntario. where 
lie received his preliminarv education. 

V'erv earlv in life Thomas had shown a strong 
taste for scientific rather than literary stud)-, de- 
liL^bting in (lemonstrati\e work rather than hypo- 
thelical conclusions. In direct line with his in- 
vestigating and logical bent his studies were be- 
gim and persistently followed not only to the end 
of his educational course but all through his sub- 
se(|uent professional life. The intense interest in 
the ])henomena of chemistry, l>ased, as they are, 
on natural and unchangeable law, drew him 
naturally to the study of medicine, while his love 
o'' higher mathematics ga\e him, among mechani- 
cal ])ursuits. ,-ui unusu.al aptitude for civil and 
n'.ecbanical engineering. In both these branches 
his education has been as thorough as long- and 
patient study and congenial tastes could render it- 



Dr. Oliver commenced his medical studies in 
the office of Dr. N. E. Mainwaring, of St. George, 
Ontario, witli whom he remained two years. In 
1855 he entered the Rolph Aledical College, of 
Toronto, trom which he graduated, receiving his 
di])loma in 1838. .\e\-er robust, his close appli- 
c;ition to studv for so long a period left him in a 
most critical state ctf health rnid in no condition 
to comiuencc the arduous labor of practicing 
physician, for which in all but bodJK health hi: 
was now most completely fitted. 

The course of study he had pursued prior to 
his special medical course had, fortunately for 
him at this juncture, thoroughly fitted hiiu for 
the ])m-suit of the profession of a civil and lue- 
c.hanical engineer, and to this he turned w ith such 
ardor as to win not only material success 1)ut a 
re])Utation as a mechanical inventor wdiich he has 
retained througji the later years of his life in the 
medical jirofession. 

Dr. Oliver's health being recovered, he prac- 
ticed medicine for a mimber of years in the south 
and in Kansas, removing to Chicago in 1874. 
In this city he has since li\ed and here he has 
built up and held a large and constanth- increas- 
ing general practice, not conlined to Chicago, but 
expanding into the surrounding country. lie 
I'list located on the south side, his present place 
of residence. ( )f late )'ears, although his practice 
has I)ccn general, he has given s]iecial attention 
to diseases of the lungs, liver and kidneys. In 
tlicse departments he lias won eminent success, 







-v«- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



3n 



ami st.-inds as autlini-jiy im all ])(iinls peiiainin.^' is unassnmin^f;-, hut iii(k'])vii(knt and scll'-rclianl. 

tlicrct<». and has won the regard and rcs]>cct of a lart^'c 

Dr. Oliver has Hvc children : .Anita, 'idionias circle <if friends, which enihraces all who know 

Scott, Ida May, Bruce and Grant. The Doctor him. 



[RA M. COBE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Ira M. Cobe, president of the Chicag-o Title 
&• Trust Com]>anv of ("hicat^o. was horn in Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts, ( )ctol)er 2<). iSfif), and is a 
son of Mark II. and l'".\a Gohe. 

His education was ac(|nired at the ISostoU 
ijuhlic sciiools .-uid at the lloston, L'nixersitw 



Mr. Cohe was the principrd promoter of the 
ciMisolidation of the abstract companies of Chi- 
cago and accepted the i)residenc\' until such time 
as a ])erniauent head could he secured. 

Mr. lulson (i. Keith has Ik\'u prc\aile<l upon 
to accept the position as president of the Chicago 



His first employment was in newspaper work at Title X: Trust Company, and (>n July i, UJOJ. 

Lawrence, Massachusetts. He was admitted to Mr. Cohe resigns in his favor and will then take 

the Suffolk county (M'assachusetts) bar in Jan- a nuich deserved rest before again actively en- 

uary, iSSS, and came to Chicago in 1895. gaging in business. 

Mr. Cohe was matle president of the Chicago Mr. Cohe was united in marriage March 9, 

Title & Trust Company in July, i(>oi. lie is a 189J, to Miss Annie E. Watts, of Belfast, 

Republican. Maine. 



CHARLES A. DAVIDSON 

MUSKOGEE, 1. T. 

Charles A. Davidson, clerk of the United 189.V compelled him' to seek another position. 

States court, for the northern district of Indian He was indivitlual bookkeeper for Mr. jM'auk 

territory, was Ixirn in Cleveland, Ohio, January Rockefeller, of Cleveland, for six years, and left 

5, 1865, and is a son of Charles .\. and I\Fary liis employ to accept tlie a,])iM lintmcnl under I'res- 

Elizabeih {.\dams) Davidson. He was etlu- ident Mckinley as clerk of the Cnited Stales 

cated in the i>ul)lic .schools of Cleveland. To ci urt of Indian Territory January i, 1900. 
obtain a business education he took the position .Mi'. Davidson served with the Ohio Nnfioual 

of clerk in the office of Davidson & House, dealers Guard live years and obtained an honorable dis- 

iii lumber, building material, bo.x factory, etc. charge, and then three years with the Cleveland 

lie was promoted in a short time to bonkkeeper. Greys, lie is now one of the stockholders in 

and had charge of the financial end of two bun- the Muskogee ^*v Clarksville I'lridge Co. (In- 

dred and fifty men in the employ of the firm. cori>(>ratcd). 

After incorporation of the firm he was elected Mr. Davidson is a Mason and Knight of 

secretary and treasurer. Their ]ilant burned Pythias. .\ member of the McKinley Rei)ub- 

down five dift'erent times, and the Last lire, in. licau Club of Muskogee, also an old member of 



3i: 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



the Tippecanoe Club of Cleveland, Oliiu. Ik- Fnur Railroad. Tiiey have two children, sons, 

has traveled extensively in the United States. In nine and seven years of age. 
religious matters a Baptist, and politically a Mr. Davidson was one of a family of nine 

stanch Republican. children, all living but one. the yoiuigest brother, 

Mr. Davidson was married June 9. 1891, to who was killed in an elevator accident. His 

Miss Katherine K. Moore, of Delaware, Ohio, father is living and his mother died recently, 

daughter of the late Frank Moore of the Big March 3, 1902. 



HON. MARK BANGS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




For a period of fully half a century in the 
historv of jurisprudence in Illinois the name of 
Judge Mark Bangs is prominently associated. 
He was born at Hawley. Franklin county. ^lassa- 
chusetts, January 9, 1822. and educated at the 
common schools and at the Col- 
legiate Institute, of Rochester, 
Xew York, read law at Spring- 
field, Massachu.sctts. and was ad- 
mitted to the bar of Illinois at 
Lacon, i\Iarshall county, in the 
year nf 1850. 

On January i, 1852, he was 
married to Miss Harriet Cornelia 
Pomeroy, of Lacon. They have 
two children, ^Irs. Nellie Bangs-Skeltnii, who is 
a noted musician of Chicago, and Fred .V. Bangs, 
a lawyer, and a memljer nf the firm nf Bangs, 
\\'ood & Bangs. 

Mr. Bangs was elected judge of the circuit 
court in March, 1859. and was one of the origi- 
nators of the War Time L'nion League in June. 
1862. being elected president, and served for one 
year, and was succeeded by Mr. Moulton, of 
Shelby county. Jud,ge Bangs was elected to the 
state senate in Xo\ember, 1869. and in 1873 was 
app'oinlcd b\- (inxernnr lleveridge, circuit judge 
to fill an ■ane.xpired term occasioned b\' the death 
of Judge Richmond. He resided and ijracticed 
law in Lacon and the adjoining counties from 



1850 until'December, 1875, at which latter date 
he was called without previous solicitation or 
knowledge to the office of United States at- 
torney for the northern district of Illinois, re- 
signing in September, 1879. In the spring of 
i860 Judge Bangs formed a partnership with 
Hon. Thomas M. Shaw, now serving his third 
term as judge of the circuit court in Peoria and 
adjoining counties. The law partnership of 
Bangs & Shaw, and afterward as Bangs. Shaw & 
lidwards, continued undissolved for seventeen 
years. In 1880 Judge Bangs formed a partner- 
ship with the late Josq>h Kirkland for the prac- 
tice of law in Chicago. This firm was dissolved 
in 1886 and a new one formed and entered into 
with his son, Fred A. Bangs, the firm being 
known as Bangs & Bangs. This firm gave place 
in 1893 to the present firm of Bangs, W'ood & 
Bangs. 

Judge Ban,gs' ancestrv were of the most pro- 
nounced Puritan, anti-slavery character. When 
the intensified anti-slavery spirit was moving 
against the appalling menace of slavery and when 
the demand for a new national party was mov- 
ing the liberty-loving citizens of the country'. 
Judge Bangs was influential in ha\ing a state 
ci nvcntinn held at Springfield, lllinnis, in Sep- 
tember, 1854, looking to the formation of this 
new party. He \\'as a young member from Mar- 
shall county to the convention. To this enter- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



3>3 



prise lie thereafter j;avc liis earnest and unre- 
mitting su|)i)ort, and made every Repulilican 
national eanvass thereafter frum l-'remont to 
Hayes, inclusive. 

Judge Bangs, with Jnsepli MetUll, nf tlie Clii- 
cago Tribune; Enuch Emery, nf the Peoria 
Transcript ; George H. Harlow, afterward secre- 
tary of the state of Illinois, and a physician nf 
Bioomington, Illinois, met in June, 1862, and de- 
voted a week to careful and complete organiza- 
tion of a political society knowMi as the Union 
League of America. To' this organization Judge 
Bangs devoted much of the succeeding year, 
holding conventions in x'arious parts of the coun- 
try, and, by diligent attention to the interests of 
the league, causing its influence to be felt 
throughout the land, especially in the northern 
states, where it was e.Ktreniely beneficial in the 
encouragement and support given to the Union 
cause thereafter and until the surrender of Lee 
at Appomattox. 

At the congressional convention held at 
Galesburg in 1862, wherein Owen Lovejoy was, 
for the last time, put in nomination for congress, 
Judge Bangs presided. 



The nomination of Judge liangs for the state 
senate in 1869, to which p<jsition he was elected, 
CMiie wholly unsolicited. The legislature under 
that election was the first under the present con- 
stitution. The chairmanship of the senate com- 
mittee of fees and salaries was .given to Judge 
Bangs, by his recjucst, who wmught diligently in 
IM'dCuring the change from a system to enrich 
clerical agents tO' some just compensation of 
other more important and responsible officials. 

The appointment to the office of United 
States attorney for the northern district of Illi- 
n(.>is brou.ght him face to face with all the com- 
plex; and trying- exigencies of the conflict be- 
tween the government and the whiskey influence, 
and the four years of his incumbency were years 
of turmoil and perplexity. Large amounts of 
distilling property were confiscated by the go\-- 
ernment and several uf the distillers were fined 
and imprisoned. 

Throughout his Icmg and honorable career he 
has given all moral and social reforms his earn- 
est support. Stainless in reputation, he stands 
to-day one of the most respected members of the 
Chicago l)ar. 



GEN. JOHN C. BLACK 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Gen. John C Black, since retiring from his 
last public position, has been engaged in the prac- 
tice of law in Chicago; he is rect>gnize(l thriiu,gh- 
(jut the state for his high legal talents, admired 
for his splendid oratorical aljility. and is known 
as a statesman of prominence. 

John C. Black was born at Lexington. Miss, 
issippi. January 27, 1839. He is the son of Re\'. 
John Black and Josejihine Culbertson Black. 

His father died when he was se\en _\ears of 
age and soon afterward, with his mother, he 
moved to Danville, Illinois, where lie acquired a 



common-school education. .\t the age of seven- 
teen he entered ^\'abash College, at Crawfords- 
\illc. Indiana, supiporting himself by teaching 
(luring the five years he spent at that institution, 
and gaining distinction as a scholar and an orator. 
.\t the outbreak i-f the Rebellion, he enlisted on 
the 15th (if April. 1861, as a private with the 
Eleventh Indiana Infantry. He afterward \x- 
canie colonel of the Thirty-seventh Regiment of 
Illinois X'olunteers, and brevet brigadier general. 
Until the 15th of August, 1865, he remained in 
the armv, and was absent from the front for 



314 



PROMINENT MEN OE THE GREAT WEST 



(iiilv one inniiUi, diirinj; wliicli time lie was re- 
cniitintj a c<)ni])aiiy. ami while suffering' ftdtii 
wounds, lie was twice sevinnsly wounded and 
was tliree times i)romoted for di>tin,i;uislied and 
meritorious service. 

At [he close of the war Tien. r>lack look u\> 
the studA' of law. and is now a i)ractitioner at the 
bar of the various state and federal courts, in- 
cluiliiis- the United States sujjreme court. Tie 
first opened an office in Danville and soon became 
recognized as one of the most able and eloquent 
law \ers iu central Illinois. 

Tn tlie numerous political campaigns in which 
Ceu. r.lack has taken part, he has been a constant 
and earnest Democrat. He was a candidate for 
Congress in tSr/). iS8o and in 18S4. and in 1872 
was a candidate for lieutenant governor. Tn 
1S71) he w;is nominated for United Slates Sena- 



tor against (ien. John .\. Logan, and received the 
entire 1 )enii a-ratic \iite of the Illinois Legisla- 
ture. In 1SS5. he was ap]>oiuted by President- 
Cleveland, commissioner of the bureau of pen- 
sions. In 1892 he was elected congressman-at- 
large, and served until December T2. 1894, when 
he resigned his seal in congress to become United 
States .\(tonie\- of the Xortheni District of Illi- 
nois, in wdiich capacity he continued for nearly 
four years, during that time he was nominated 
for governor of Illinois, but declined- the honor. 
Since Mav 29. i88<). he has practiced his \no- 
fession in Chicago. Tie w%ns recently elected 
commander of the Military Order of the Loyal 
Legion, Commandery of Illinois, .and also- com- 
mander of the Dei>artmcn( of Illinois, Grand 
.\rmy of the Ucpublic. Li i8r>7 (Ien. P.lack was 
married to Miss Adt'Iine L. (Iriggs. 



ORRIN H. INGRAM 

EAU CLAIRE, WIS. 

Personal ad\,ancemenl comes not to one who upon what he has accom])lished lor himsell and 

hopes alone but to the one whose hope and faith the service he h;is rendered to nthers. Mr. In- 

are those of striving. gram used the ad\antag;es given him iu his youth 

( )rrin 11. Ingram's full measure of success in in the best w,i\': (he difhculties he encountered to 



life li;is bei'n determined b\ his ])rescience and 
piiwer 1(1 direct his effort toward dehnite ends. 
Well mav we hold in high regard the results o| 
individual endeavnr ;ni<l pi'rsonal accomplish- 
ment. While m.any in our great republic have 
risai from obscurity to .aflluence, there are com- 
j)aralively few who ha\e won tributes of admira- 
tion .and honor for their spli'iidid achiesements 



man\- wnnld ha\e been stumbling blocks, Init to 
him weie stepping stones to higlier things. His 
ambition w;is one of cour.age and action: he had 
Ui' desire to (iccu]i\ the middle ground, but 
directed his efforts to the goal of the greatest i>os- 
sihle success. To-day he is honored and re- 
spected alike for his many great c|ualities and his 
ni.uu \irtues. lie is a m;m whose interest in 



which h:i\e g.ained them preceilence among their pis fellow luen is bro.ad. deep and sincere. With 

fellow-men. In all ln-~ relai ions to home, scieiely. great abilities he combines gentleness of heart, 

to church and state. .Mr. Ingr.am may be I'airly fdr he is easily accessible to all classes, believing 

designated as standing among the distincti\el_\- that personal wurth. not advantageous circum- 

representati\'e men of the west. Man's wurth in stances, m.ake the man. 

the world is determined li\' his success and by his Mr. Ingram is one of the ])ioneers of the 

usefulness; the estimate of character is based northwestern white pine business, as he began 




TAa Lewis Puii. Co.. Chica'c 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



317 



operations in tlie Chippewa valley in 1857. l'"cir 
many years he has been among- the .group of men 
wliu have been in charge od' the lumber industry 
of the Mississippi \alley. He was born al South- 
wic, near Westtield, Massachusetts, May 12, 
1S30. His parents, David A. and I'^annie In- 
gram, moved to Old Saratoga, New ^'ork, when 
he was but a child. There his father died in 1X41, 
leasing' but slender means for the support <it bis 
family. This meant that the boy nf ele\en \'ears 
of age had at once to begin his career of self-sup- 
[xjrt. bor a luniiber of years he worked on a 
farm, earning- his board and clothing and attend- 
ing school during the winter months. In 1S47 
he went to work for the sawmill lirm of Harris 
& Bronson, near Lake Pharaoh, New \\)rk. 
During the winter he superintended cutting logs 
in the timberland aljotit Lake Pharaoh, receiving 
during the winter for his work in the woods 
twelve dollars a month, and thirteen dtillars a 
month in the summer for his services in the mill, 
but it was not long- before he had entire charge of 
the mill. The location, however, was unfavor- 
able to his health and he accepted a position with 
Fox & Anglin, of Kingston, Canada, who were 
building- a mill on the Rideau canal, as logging 
and mill superintendent. It was between 1847 
and 1857 that he laid the foundation in experi- 
ence for his remarkable successes in the west. 
During this time he sui)erintended the building of 
several gang mills, among them one for bis old 
employers, Harris & Bronson, at Ottawa, lie 
was learning- his business from the ground uj), 
and as be ])rogressed ui)ward establishing' his 
re]intation as a i>ractical and successful lumber- 
man. Gilmour & Company, of Ottawa, at that 
time were the largest lumber operators in the 
world: they offered him a ])osition at foui- thou- 
sand dollars ;i \ear. bouse rent fi'ee and other ad- 
vantages, which he acce]ited. h'or them be i-e- 
modeled sevei-al of their large mills ami had en- 
tire charge of all o])erations from the log to the 
finished lumber. While with this concern he 



invented the "gang edger," which since that time 
has been an indispensable part of every respect- 
able sawmill, and has been of greater adsantage 
to the lumber interests than any contri\ance ever 
introduced. He did n(jt pateiU the de\ ice but 
gave it freely to the industry, and when later 
some one else tried to patent it Mr. Ingrani fur- 
nished proof (if his prior claim ami his gift of it 
to the i)ublic. 

In the winter of 1856- 1857 Mr. Ingram de- 
cided to start in business for him.self, and, 
although offered a line salary to reniain with Gil- 
mour & Company, he went to Eau Claire, Wis- 
consin, which was then, literally, in the woods, 
without a railroad withm a hundi-cd miles of it, 
and entered into partnership with A. ]\I. Dole 
and Donald Kennedy, forming the firm of Dole, 
Ingram & Kennedy. They began lumbering in 
Chippewa \alley, Wisconsin, used a small port- 
able mill with which to saw timl)cr for a saw- 
mill, built a gang-mill and broug^it the first iron 
])laner and the first iron lathe into the Chippewa 
valley. Thus began a lumber manufacturing 
business at l"!au Claire which continued luuil 
iijoo. From this mill they rafted lumbei- down 
the Chippewa atid the Mississippi, and finally 
opened a yard at Wabasha, Mimiesota, and also 
one at Dubu(|ue, Iowa, at which latter poitit they 
built a mill. In October, i8C)0, the Eau Claire 
mill burned, without insurance, resulting in a loss 
of fifty thousand dollars, but a new one wa-- 
ready for work in the s])ring. 

The timber in the Cliip]iewa \:illey was m.'ig'- 
nificent, but it was no. easy thing to get it to the 
mill or sort, ;utd hold it in the river. Mr. In- 
g-r.-im's lirm s]>ent nuich money and effort in co- 
oper.Uion with the Dariiel-Shaw Lumber Com- 
jKMiv, and with the firm then o]>er;iting at Chip- 
])ewa b'alls, to binld a dam and 1m 10ms at l'".ag'le 
Rapids. It was not until Fan Ckiire and the hun- 
bermen at tb;il point secured a franchi.se for a 
druu tb.-it lumbering- in that city became safe and 
steadily profitable. In i8f)j Mr. Dole retired 



3i8 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



from the firm and two years later two of the em- 
ployes were g'iveu an interest in the firm, and it 
became known as Ingram, Kennedy & Company. 
In 1865 tlie steamer "Silas Wright" was Iniilt, 
which did the largest part of the freighting from 
Reed's Landing tO' Ean Claire. Mr. Ingram dis- 
played his genins for invention 1)_\' dc\'ising a sys- 
tem of lighters which enabled the "Silas Wright"' 
to ascend the ri\-er while nther boats of less 
draught were forced to remain down stream. 

In 1S80 Mr. Ingram organized the Charles 
Hortoii Lumber Company, of Winona, Minne- 
sota, and the following year Mr. Kennedy sold 
h.is interests in all their enterprises to Messrs. 
Delaney & McVeigh, and the Empire Lumber 
Company was organizeil with a capital of eight 
hundred thousand dollars. This company ab- 
sorbed the interests of Ingram, Kennedy & 
Comi)any, of Dubuiiue, and tliis business was 
incnrporated as the Standard Lumber Com- 
pany, with five hundred tlmusand dollars capi- 
talization. 

In connection with the impro\-ement of the 
Chippewa ri\er was the organization of the Chip- 
pewa River Logging Comi)any, in which Mr. 
Ingram's companies took stock. Of the former 
Mr. Ingram has been a director since its start, 
and |of the Chippewa Lumber and Boom Com- 
pany, of Chippewa Falls, one of the most success- 
ful white i)ine concerns in the northwest, he has 
been vice-president since its organization. In 
1883 Mr. Ingram organized the Rice Lake Lum- 
ber CfMiipany, of Rice Lake, \\'isconsin, with a 
c;i]ntal of six hundred thousand dollars, and has 
Ix'tn its president since organization. He is also 
president of tlie iMiijiire Lumber Company, of 
Fan Claire, and vice-president of the Standard 
Luml>er Company, of Duljuque. He was inter- 
ested in the Hudson Sawmill Company and the 
Wabasha Lumber Conipany, both of which con- 
cerns wound up their business a year or so ago. 
Mr. Ingram has heavy investments in many other 
enterprises in the northwest, as well as on the 



Pacific coast, in connection with iiis stock-holding 
in the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company. Mr. In- 
gram and Mr. Frederick Weyerhaeuser have been 
cicjse friends and business associates for many 
years. 

Air. Ingram is president of the Eau Claire 
National Bank, Bank of Rice Lake, and of the 
Eau Claire Water Works Company ; director and 
treasurer of the Canadian .\nthracite Coal Com- 
pany, and among his interests are extensive mines 
in Arizona, Nevada and Northwest Territory. 
He is always public spirited and foremost in any 
feasible plan tO' benefit his home city. He has 
erected one of the finest office buildings in the 
state; a portion of the building is used as a public 
library, and through the generosity of Mr. In- 
gram this worthy institution has been given a 
magnificent home free of charge. In spite of his 
manifold business interests he has time antl 
money for the pursuit of reasonable pleasure, and 
fur the benefit of others. He has a finely ap- 
pi inted farm in the outskirts of Eau Claire, where 
he passes a portion of his time; a cottage at Long 
Lake and a private summer resort up al:KJve Long 
Lake, where he entertains his friends, including 
n;any men prominent in the commercial world, in 
politics and in religion. 

Mr. Ingram is a member of the Congre.ga- 
tional church and a member of its American. 
l)iiard of commissioners for foreign missions. 
He is a director of Ripon College, of Ripon, Wis- 
consin, and a Y. M. C. A. supporter. For many 
j'cars he was one of Dwight L. Moody's stanch 
supijorters, and Mrs. Ingram regularly supported 
students hi the Moody Institute at Chicagiv, Illi- 
nois. In his private life Mr. Ingram is the model 
of the thorough gentleman, his manners are 
cc'Urteiius to all, and his public and per.sonal his- 
tory is inseparably connected with his adopted 
state. He has great power of concentration and 
n memory of remarkable quality. His deeds are 
iiulclibly written in the history of his home city 
so plainly that all may read. He is a product of 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



3>9 



the intense life of tlie nurthwest ; a.e:ainst odds Girnelia E. Pierce, of Lake George, New York, 

which wiiuld have overcome a less dauntless There are three children. Charles H. Ingram, 

spirit he made his way to the fnmt rank. He is Erskine D. Ingram and .Marian 1'. Hayes, wife 

w.irm hearted, generous and loyal to his friends; of Dr. Hayes, an eminent physician and surgeon 

he makes new ones wherever he goes, for he is of Eau Claire. Mr. Ingram is domestic in his 

true and faithful in all the relations of life. tastes, .spending niucli time at home, surrounded 

Mr. Ingram was married in 1S51 to Miss by his family with liis grandchildren. 



HON. JAN\ES A. HEMENWAY 

BOONVILLE, IND. 



Hon. James A. Hemenway, meml)er of con- 
gress from the first district of Indiana, was born 
March 8, i860, at Boonville, Indiana, and with 
the exception of a few years has continued tn re- 
sitie at Boonville. He is a son of William J. L. 
and Sarah Hemenway. He was educated at the 
lioonville public schools; was emplox'ed at general 
day labor after leaving school ; studied law nights 
an<l was admitted to the bar in 1 882 ; elected 
prosecuting attorney first judicial circuit of In- 
diana in 1884, re-elected in 1886; and elected a 
member Republican state committee in 1888 for 
first district of Indiana, re-elected in 1890 and 



1892; elected to congress in 1894, fifty-fourth 
congress, re-elected to fifty-fifth, fifty-sixth and 
fifty-seventh congresses. 

Mr. Hemenway has been connected with most 
of the public enterprises of liis town. He is a 
member of the Cirand Tribunal, Knights of 
P3-thias of Indiana, and is also a Mason. Po- 
litically a Republican and in religious matters a 
Presbyterian. Mr. Hemenway w'as married 
July I. 1S85, to Miss Anna Eliza Alexander. 
Her grandfather was RaltifTe Boone, who for so 
many years was a representative frrjm Indiana in 
congress. 



HENRY R. WILLIAMS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

One of tlie most widely known and popular pany in various ix)sitions. For four years he 

railroad men of the west is the efficient and ener- was telegraph operator at various stations; for 

getic general manager of the Chicago, Milwau- two years assistant train dispatcher at Milwam- 

kee & St. Paul Railroad Company, Mr. Henry kee, Wisconsin; for eight years train dispatcher 

R. W'dliams. He was bnrn July 14, 1849, at of the Hastings & Dakota and River divisions 

I'almyra, Wisconsin, and is a sun of Richard and at Minneapolis; for one year train master Hast- 

Mary (Thompson) Williams. ings & Dakota and Iowa & Minneapolis di- 

His early education was recei\ed at the \n\h- visions. From January I, 1882, to September 

lie and high schools of his native .state and i, 1885, he was superintendent Iowa & Minne- 

with pri\ate professors. January i, 1867, he s( ta di\ision. frnm Se])tember, 1885, to February, 

entered the railroad service, since wdiich time he 1888, superintendent Southern Minnesota di- 

has been continuously from then to date with \-ision. at LaCrosse, Wisconsin; from February, 

the Chicago. Milwaukee & St. Paul R. R. Com- 1S8S, to June, 1890, superintendent Ottumwa 



320 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



& Kansas City line, jjeing located at Kansas City, 
Misscmri, and Ciiillicuthe, ^lissuun. 

From June. 1890, to IMarcli. 31. 1898, he was 
assistant general superintendent, northern dis- 
trict. March 31. 1898. to February i. 1900 
.H'cneral su])crintendcnl. rmd frnm h'ehruary i. 
1900, t(. date, the .qencral manager of the road. 

Mr. Williams is recognized throughout the 
west as one of the ablest operating officials now 
m the service of any railroad in the country. 
Gre:it in^rovcments in the property of the road 
have been made imder his direction. He has been 
general manager of the road since February i, 



1900, but had much to do with the oj>erating and 
construction of the road prior to that time. 

Mr. Williams is a man of great executive 
al)ility, tireless energy and indomitable persever- 
ance. His entire life has been devoted to his 
chosen calling, in which he has attained marked 
eminence, being classed as one of the noted rail- 
roatl managers of the country. Althougli a mem- 
ber of .se\eral prominent clubs of Chicago, Mr. 
Williams finds true solace with his family and 
friends. Mr. Williams was united in marriage, 
in 1879, t'* Miss Elizabeth Davis, of Minneapolis, 
Minneosta, and has three children. 



JAMES P. BUCK, M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Ijorn in Cambria county, Pennsylvania, on During the ne.xt five years he followed his 

the Kjtli of February, 1856, Dr. Buck is de- profession in the western part of his native state, 
scended from the German pioners of that pic- attaining good success and a large and constantly 
turesque region, inheriting from them not only increasing practice, in spite of this, however, his 
an active, sturdy brain but a si)lendid physique. ambition has gradually outgrown the possibilities 
liis parents were John and Rachael (Sherry) of his surroundings, and in 1884 be left the scene 
Buck, his father Ijcing long recognized as oue of of his first professional labors and went to 
tile most stanch and trustworthy citizens of Europe to complete his education preparatory to 
southwestern Pennsyhania, holding many posi- again taking up his work in a larger field, 
tions of honor among them. For three years he Going first to Germany, he studied in the 

held the office of sheriff oi his county, and in universities of X'ienna and Heidelberg, afterward 
1874 was elected a representative to the state as- spending some months in Berlin and Prague, 
sembly, serving his constituents for two terms. i>racticing his ])rofession in the hospitals of these 

Thus it was that the .s<m James early showed cities and studying their methods, 
a sturdy and studious bent of mind, easily master- L'pon the outbreak of the war between Servia 

and lUilgaria-RouiiKuiia. in 18S5. Dr. Buck ac- 
ce[)teil a surgeon's position in the Servian army, 
with the rank and title of captain. During the 
continuation of hostilities, in dunpanv with Dr. 
Bridge, he rtMiiaiiieil in the military hospital serv- 
ice, thereby adding to his skill that practical 
surgical exi)ericnce which only the emergencies 
of battle afford. 

Dr. Buck retired fmni the ser\ice not only 
with an invaluable experience in his chosen speci- 



ing \\hate\er came before him. After passing 
through the district schools he was sent to La- 
Irobe, I'enn.. and entering St. X'^incent College, 
finished ;i cl.nssical course, graduating in 1876. 
In the meantime he had chosen his life pro- 
fession, and although be t.aught schocij for two 
seasons after graduating from college, he stead- 
fastly jnirsued a course of medical reading and 
was finally matriculated at Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege, graduating in 1879. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



323 



alty of surgery but lujuored by many tokens of 
esteem from liis immediate superiors and those of 
e\en higlier rank. He retired, moreover, with a 

must enthusiastic iipinion of the aliihtv, l.)ra\ery, 
womanly tenderness and phihinthropy of Queen 
Natalie. Dr. Buck saw much of her work both 
in the hospitals and on the l)attlefields. ha\'ing an 
especial admiration for her work there and for 
her labors in behalf of poor girls and the indus- 
trird classes in general. 

At the conclusion of his service as a military 
surgeon Dr. Buck returned to Vienna, where he 
remained for a year as first assistant to Professor 
Hock in the Eye Department of the \'ienna Poly- 
clinic. 

\\'hile at the University of Vienna he was 
elected president of the American Club of Physi- 
cians, composed O'f members of the profession 
then visiting in that city. It was organized to 
])romote the interests of .Vmcrican students, but 
as it was not amenable to the rules of the uni- 
versity it was disbanded. 

.Vfter completing this extended and pr(.htal)le 
season in Europe, in the autumn of 1887 he lo- 
cated in Chicago for the practice of his profes- 
sion. Since that time he has cnntinued in general 
practice, which has constantly increased, the bulk 
of his time, jjcrhaps, being occupied witli surgical 
cases. Not only is Dr. Buck considered one of 
the leading •►peraturs of the cit_\', but he has in- 



vented many improvements upon surgical instru- 
ments, some oi which have lx;en ad(jpted by vari- 
ous members of the profession and others are em- 
ployed solely by iiimself in his pri\-ate practice. 
It is an e\idence of his high standard nf medical 
ethics that he refuses to patent any of his in- 
ventions of a professional nature, believing that 
if he can do anything to simplify and facilitate 
surgical o])crations, make them safer or less pain- 
ful, he should gi\-e the profession and suffering 
humanity the benefit of his ideas without claim 
or hope of financial reward. 

Dr. Buck's inventive genius does not rest 
within the confines of medicine, as he has made 
improvements in the mechanism of the modem 
bicycle and has perfected several electrical devices 
which are highly sp<iken of by experts in that 
line. 

Dr. Buck is a member of the Chicago Medical 
Society, the Chicago Ciermania Maennerchor and 
other organizations, and is not only [wpular in 
all circles for his varied abilities but Ijecause of 
the great amount of work which he cheerfully 
does for the benefit of those who need the services 
of the i)hysician but are not financially able to 
recompense him. Jn fact, he brings to the prac- 
tice of his profession not only the ai^ility and en- 
thusiasm necessary for success but the courtesies 
of a gentleman and the .symiiathies of a large- 
souled man. 



GEORGE W. PIERSON 

RED LODGE, MONTANA. 

Ceorge W. Pierson, lawyer, was born at At- anil in 1S9J the degree of LL. M. In 1894 he 
las, Genesee comity, Michigan, May 21. \S(hj, mo\ed to Abjutana and settled at Red Lodge, 
and is a son of Joseph W. and Hannah ( Daven- May ist, that year, and commenced his practice, 

which he has continued ever since. Mr. Pierson 
was city attorney <if Red Lodge from 1894 t'j 
189^1, and was the first county attorney for Car- 
bon county, 1895 to 1897. He is now e.xalted 
ruler of Bear Tooth Lodge. No. 534, Benevolent 



])ort) Pierson. He was educated at the Lhu- 
\x'rsitv of Michigan, was adnntted to the bar, 
and located at Chicago, August i, i89_', becom- 
ing a member of the law firm of Waulett, Pierson 
& Knudson. In 1891 he took the LL. B. degree, 

17 



324 PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 

and I'rotective Order of Elks of America, joined a Democrat. He was married October 27, 1892. 

in 1899; county central committeeman of Silver tO' Miss Loretta Mann. Mr. Pierson's grand- 

l\ei)ul)lican part\' 189^; also state central com- parents settled in Lapeer and Genesee counties, 

mitteeman for Garlion count\'. I'oliticall\- he is Michigan, in the earl\- "thirties. 



WILLIAM PENN NIXON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




\ 



William Pcnn Ni.\on, editor, was born at 
Eonntain City, Wayne county, Indiana, son of 
Samuel Nixon and Mrs. Rhoda (Hubbard) But- 
ler, his wife. His parents were Virginians, of 
English descent, and were mem1)ers of the So- 
ciety of Friends, of which body 
his grandfather, Barnaby Nixon, 
was a highly esteemed preacher, 
whi>, becoming convinced that 
slavery was contrary to the law 
of God, freed the slaves he owned 
long before his denomination had 
begun to give testimony against 
human bondage. Mrs. Butler, 
b}- her marriage to Mr. Nixon, 
brought a strain of Indian blood into the fam- 
ily, as her grandmother was a daughter of the 
Cherokee nation. 

William I'enn Nixon, after attending a pri- 
vate school until he was fourteen years of age, 
spent two years at Turtle Creek .Vcademy, War- 
ren count\', ( )liio. lie then for a year assisted his 
brother, who was principal of Harveysburg 
Academy, after which he entered Earlham Col- 
lege, Richmond. Indiana, ;ui institution under 
the care of the Society of Friends. After another 
year of teaching he entered Farmer's College, 
near Cincinnati, Ohio, and was graduated in 
1853. He tau,L;"ht for two years in Cincinnati, 
and then took a ])ost-gra(luate course of four 
years in law at the University of Pennsylvania, 
being graduated in 1859. He was admitted to 
the bar in Cincinnati, .and opened an office in that 



city; met with llattering success, and continued 
in ])ractice until 1868. Having taken a vigorous 
part in politics as a Republican, he was elected to 
the state legislature in 1864 to till a vacancy 
caused by the death of the Hon. Mr. Keck; was 
re-elected for a full term in 1865, and served 
through the legislature of 1866-67. In the mean- 
time he had become president of the Cincinnati 
Mutual Fife Jnsm'ance Company. In 1868, in 
connection with his elder brother. Dr. O. W. 
Nixon, and other friends, he established the 
Daily Chronicle, an evening paper, of which he 
was made commercial editor, but soon became 
pultlisher and general manager, and thus acted 
until a year or two later; but upon the consoli- 
dation of his jiaper with the Daily Times sold 
his interest. He still continued president and 
manager of the insurance company until 187 1, 
when it was consolidated with the Union Central 
Life Company, of the same city. 

In 1872 Mr. Nixon became business manager 
of the Chicago' Inter-Ocean, foimded by J. Y. 
Scammon. In 1875 the company \vas forced to 
dissol\-e, and a new organization was formed, in 
which Mr. Nixon and his elder brother obtained 
a controlling interest. As general manager and 
editor-in-chief he carried the newspaper tiirough 
its critical period, and, pushing it to the front, 
gave it a high moral tone and a distinct and posi- 
tive character as a dispenser of political and liter- 
ary news. In moral and political work and th<jught 
it soon became a leader. During the time 
from 1875 until 1879 Mr. Nixon was editor and 



Prominent men of the great west 



325 



general manager, giving personal superintend- 
ence to e\-ery department. Willis J. .Vbbot, in 
The Re\ie\v of Reviews, in 1896, in an article 
entitled "Chicago Newspapers and Their 
Makers," speaks of Mr. Nixon as follows: 
"More than any (jther newspaper in Chicago', 
the Inter-Ocean has represented the personality 
and the convictions of one man. * * * One who 
knows the Inter-Ocean may justly feel that he 
knows its editor, while he who enjoys the friend- 
ship of Mr. Ni.xon can at all times forecast with 
almost perfect accuracy the course of the news- 
paper upon any given public issue. It is this 
straightforward pursuit of a never-changing 
ideal ; this undeviating progress along the path 
that never wanders, that gives the Inter-Ocean 
its character and its strength. * * * It is inter- 
esting to consider how much tlie loyalty of its 
subscriljers to the paper may be due to loyalty 
of the paper's staff to each other. The periodical 
shake-ups that unsettle almost every other news- 
paper in Chicago have noi parallel in the Inter- 
Ocean. Members of the staff have grown gra\- 
in its service. * * * The editorial staff in its 
harmcin\- and good fellowship closelv resembles 
a great family. It would seem that the kindly 
spirit of the editor-in-chief, of whom his bitter- 
est political opponent si)eaks onlv words of re- 
spect and admiration, has permeated the entire 
force — as it certainh- has fixed the cliaracter of 



the paper." The paper has always advocated 
the cause of municipal refomi, and never hesi- 
tates to arraign corruption even in Rqjublicans. 
In July, iiSyj, Mr. Nixon .sold the controlling 
ir.terest, InU still retains his connection with tiie 
company, of which he is secretary and treasurer, 
as well as publisher. In December, 1897, he was 
api>ointed collector of United States customs, 
and took charge of the office in January, 1898. 
The business has greatly increased, but it has 
been conducted without an increase in the num- 
ber of clerks or of expense to the government. 

He has been a commissioner of Lincoln Park 
since 1895, holding office under Democratic as 
well as Republican governments. He is a mem- 
ber of the Union League, Marquette and Press 
Clubs, and for several years was president of 
the Associated Press. He is a director of the 
Humane Society and a member of the Ohio So- 
ciety. In 189C) he was selected by the state Repub- 
lican convention of Illinois as delegate at large to 
the national convention at St. Louis which nomi- 
nated William McKinley for president. 

Mr. Nixon was married in Cinciimati in Sep- 
tember, i8C)i, to Mary, daughter of Hezekiah 
and Ruth (Ferris) Stites. She died in 1862. 
He was again married, June 15, 1869, to Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Charles and Sarah E. Duffield. 
of Chicago, by whom he has three children: 
Marv Stites, I'.ertha Dufheld and William I'enu. 



HON. JAMES TIGHLMAN LLOYD 

SHELBVVILLE, MISSOURI 

Hon. James T. Lloyd, member of congress was admitted to the bar June 14, t88j, and then 

from the first district of Alissonri, was born at practiced his profession in Lewis county until 

Canton, Lewis county, Missouri, August 28, i<'^85, when he located at his present home, where 

1857, and is a son of Jeremiah and Francis h.e has since resided; he held no office, e.xcept 

Lloyd. He was educated at and graduated from that of prosecuting attorney of his county from 

Christian University at Canton, !\Iissouri, in '^^9 to 1893, until his election to the fifty-fifth 

1878; taught school for a few years thereafter; congress, to fill a vacancy; re-elected to the fifty- 



326 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



sixth and fifty-seventh congresses. He is inter- and was a delegate to the general conference in 

ested in nearly all the public enterprises in his ii^94- I'nlitically he is a Democrat, 
tiiwn; is a member of 1. O. O. F., of M. M'. A. Mr. Lloyd was married March i, 1881, to 

and (if K. P. organizatinns, and has held nnmer- Miss Mary F. Graves, of Lewis county, Mis- 

ous places of honor in the former. He is a mem- souri. They have three children living: 01i\'e, 

ber of the Metlmdist F.iiisconal church, South, Thomas and Fthel Lloyd. 



ALEXANDER STUART McLENNAN, M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



s not always good 



.MthdUgh Ijlue blood 
blood, in the case of Dr. McLennan it certainly is. 
The misfortunes and adventures of the two 
Charleses in the time of Cromwell are fresh in 
the minds of historical students, it l>eing from 
Iheir bnuse that the subject of this sketch is de- 
scended. The Doctor's paternal grandmother, 
Charlotte Stuart, was descended from the famoiis 
General Stuart, of Garth, who wrote a history 
of the Scottish regiments, and whose progenitors 
were of the royal house. Its vigorous and able 
representative, who is now a resident of Chicago, 
is the product of many strains of blood, many 
climes and vicissitudes. 

Born in Georgetown, Demerara, British 
Guiana, in the year 1846, Ixith of his parents 
died when he was only three years of age. His 
father, John McLennan, was the tliird of seven 
sons, his grandfather being Roderick McLennan, 
Esq., of Kililan, Rosshire, Scotland, who in turn 
was a descendant of John ]McLcnnan, of the 
"r.anner," a distinguished character during the 
wars of Montrose. Dr. ^McLennan's mother, 
Cathei ine Taylor, also a native of Briti.sh Guiana, 
was rvf Engli-sh extraction, so that, although 
burn in that far-away colony, a true British con- 
stitution is his by right of inheritance. 

Upon the death of his parents the boy was 
sent to his paternal grandfather in Scotland, 
whose wife was of the house of Stuart, as above 
mentioned. He was educated in the best schools 



which the cmuitry afforded, and, as is generally 
admitted, Scotch schools are pre-eminent for 
their good discipline and thoroughness. Finish- 
ing his preliminary education in the Free Church 
Institution at Inxerness, he graduated, receiving 
the first prize in classics and honors in all other 
branches. 

Realizing that now the real battle of life 
was l)efore him, he turned toward the American 
west, where he knew that his opportunities were 
greater and his achiex'ements would i)e more 
gratifying to his ambitious nature. With his 
uncle, therefore, he emigrated to Canada, but, 
like many other young men of active mind and 
body, for several years he wavered as to the life 
course which he shoukl pursue. For some time 
he was a teacher. He also took a course in the 
Kingston Military School, from which he grad- 
uated in 1868. Upon leaving that institution he 
was ajipointed lieutenant and afterward captain 
in the I'jghtcenth Battalion, Army of the Do- 
minioti. and saw active service during the Fenian 
raids of 1870, and received a silver medal from 
the British government in 1899 in acknowledg- 
ment of such valued services. 

Being bv disposition and e<luc;ition of a rever- 
ential nature and a firm believer in the Scriivtures 
of both the Old and New Testaments, the young 
nian felt strongly drawn toward theology, and 
entered Queen's University with a view of study- 
ing for the nnnistry. He took a course in arts. 





'^< 




t^ 




^< 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



329 



I)Ut l)cini;' unable to reconcile the logic and lib- 
erality of his mind with sectarianism and min- 
isterial plans, turned his attention to' the secular 
profession of medicine. 

Entering the Royal College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, he took a full course and gradu- 
ated with h(jnors in 1873. Two yenvs later Dr. 
McLennan moved to Chicago, having been in act- 
ive practice liere for the past two decades. Al- 
thoug'h previous tO' his advent to this city he 
liad crowded an unusual number of changes into 
liis young life, since coming here, so pronounced 
has been liis success in his chosen profession, that 
he has no desire to wander further. 

An eminent city physician thus bears testi- 
mony to his sterling character, professional and 
otherwise: "I ha\e been intimately ac(juainted 



with Dr. IMcLennan for the past eighteen years 
and consider him one of the foremost physicians 
of the west. His entire professional career has 
lieen characterized 1>y innumerable charities and 
his many noble traits have endeared him to a 
liost of friends. His scholarly features and 
Soldierly liearing have made him a familar figure 
among prominent Chicagoans, and tlie lucra- 
tive practice he enjoys abundantly testifies to his 
thorough knowledge of the profession he 
adorns." 

.\nother e\'ent should be recorded before clos- 
ing this imperfect sketch, and one indicative of 
the Doctor's characteristic enterprise, viz., his 
marriage to Catherine Anglin, of Kingston, in 
1866, when he had not yet reached his twenty- 
first vear. 



JOSEPH RUSSELL JONES 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



By Gen James H. Wilson. 



Joseph Russell Jones, formerly L'nited States 
minister at Brussels, Belgium, was born at Con- 
neaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio, on the 17th of 
February, 1823. His father, Joel Jones, was born 
at Hebron, Connecticut, May 14, 1792, and after 
marrying* Miss Maria Dart, the daughter of Jo- 
seph Dart, of Middle Haddam, Connecticut, re- 
moved with his young family to Conneaut, Ohio, 
in 1819. 

Joel Jones was the sixth son of Captain Sam- 
uel Jones, of Hebron, Connecticut, who was an 
officer in the French and Indian war. The latter 
lield two commissions under George H of Eng- 
land. He returned from the wars and settled in 
Hebron, where he married Miss Lydia Tarbox, 
by whom he had six sons and four daughters. 
Nine of the ten children lived to reach maturity. 
Samuel the eldest son, was a lawyer, and prac- 
ticed the profession for many years at Stock- 



bridge, Massachusetts. He was a man of fine 
cultivation. In 1842 he published a treatise on 
the "Right of Suffrage," which is, probably, the 
only work of tlie kind ever published by an 
American author. From another brother de- 
scended the late Hon. Joel Jones, the first presi- 
dent of Girard College; the late Samuel Jones, 
M. ])., of Philadelphia, and Matthew Hale Jones, 
of Easton, Pennsylvania. From a third brother 
descended Hon. .\nson Jones, second president 
of the Re])ul)lic of Texas. 

The family are now in possession of a letter 
written by Captain Samuel Jones to his wife at 
Fort Edward, dated August 18, 1758. One hun- 
dred and ten years previous to the date of this 
letter his ancestor. Captain John Jones, sat at 
Westminster as one of the judges of King 
Charles L' Colonel Johu Jones married Henri- 
etta (Catherine), the secoiid sister of Oliver 



330 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Cromwell, in 1623, and was put to death Octo- 
ber 17, 1660, on the restoration of Charles II. 
His son, Hon. William Jones, survi\ed him, and 
one year before his father's death married Miss 
Hannah Eaton, then of the Parish of St. An- 
drews, Holden, Epenton. He subsequently came 
to America with his father-in-law, the Hon. The- 
ophilus Eaton, first governor of the colony of 
New Haven. Connecticut, where he occupied the 
office of deputy gtjvernor for some years, and 
died Octolx^r 17, 1706. Both himself and wife 
are l>uried in New Haven, under the same stone 
with G(i\ernor Eaton. 

From the foregoing it will lie seen that the 
subject of this sketch is connected by direct de- 
scent with the best blood of the Puritan fathers, 
and came honestly by the virtues whicli haxe char- 
acterized and adiirned his i)ri\-ate and official life. 
His father died when he was but an infant. leaving 
his mother with a large family and but slender 
means for their maintenance. At the age of thir- 
teen young Jones was placed in a store at Con- 
neaut, his mother and other niemliers of the fam- 
i]\- at tlie same time removing to Rockton, \Mn- 
nebago county, Illinois. This, his first clerkship, 
gave to his employers great satisfaction. He re- 
mained with them for two years, when he de- 
cided to follow his family and seek his fortune 
in the west. 

When the leading members of the Presby- 
terian church were apprised of his determination 
to depart from them, thej' endeavored to pre- 
vail upon him to remain, offering to provide for 
his education for the ministry. He, how- 
ever, declined their generous offer, but not 
without sincere and grateful acknowledgments 
of their great kindness manifested towards 
him, and, taking passage on board the schooner 
J. G. King, he made his first landing at Chica- 
go, on the 19th of August, 1838. From thence 
he proceeded the remainder of his journey to 
Rockton, where he remained with his family for 
the next two years, rendering such service to 



his mother as his tender years and slight frame 
would permit. In 1840 he went to Galena, then 
the largest and most flourishing city in tlie north- 
west, determined to better his condition, but as 
his entire available capital amounted tO' only one 
dollar, his first appearance upon the scene of his 
future success was not encouraging. He was 
glad to accept at a very small salary a clerkship, 
which he filled for about six months, after whicli 
he entered the employment of one of the leading 
merchants of Galena. Young Jones found in 
this association appreciative friendship, agreeable 
surroundings, hearty encouragement and ample 
scope for his Ijusiness talents and ambition. Con- 
tact with the enterprising spirits of that region 
soon developed in him those qualities which have 
since so highly distinguished him as a man of 
sterling worth and remarkable ability. His em- 
plover, percei\ing his superior qualifications, his 
readv adajitability to the requirements of his po- 
sition, his imperturbable good nature, self-posses- 
sion, foresight and sagacity, advanced him rap- 
idly and finally to a partnership in the business, 
which was continued successfully and profitably 
until 1856, when the copartnership was dissolved, 
and Mr. Jones retired. In 1846, while still en- 
gaged in mercantile business, he was appointed 
secretary and treasurer of the Galena S: Minne- 
sota Packet Company. This highly important 
position lie held for fifteen years, giving entire 
satisfaction to the Company. In i860 he was 
nominated by the Republican party and elected 
member of the twent^^-second general assembly 
from the Galena district, composed of the coun- 
ties of lo Da\-iess and Carroll. He soon became 
one of the most active and influential members 
of the legislature, and was prominently identi- 
fied with many measures of great public interest, 
so that liis conduct as a representative received 
the high approval, not only of his own district, 
but of the whole state. 

In 1 86 1 Mr. Jones was appointed by Presi- 
dent Lincoln to thgi offipg of United States mar- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



331 



slial for tlie nurthern district of Illinois, having 
been selected fr(.)ni among many apjilicants for 
that important position. 

Tiiis aiipointment recjuired him to change his 
residence tO' Chicago, and brought him in contact 
with other and larger interests tlian those wliicli 
had pre\-ionsly claimed his attention. In 1863 
he organized the Chicago' West Division Rail- 
way Company, was elected its president, and by 
his systematic and economical management soon 
brought it to a high condition of prosi^erity. In 
the midst of his e.xacting duties he found time 
to take part in various other commercial and 
manufacturing enterprises, which brought him 
into notice as one of the most successful and in- 
fluential men of Chicago. Withal, he discharged 
his duties as marshal so efificiently, and with such 
satisfaction to the go\'eniment, that upon the 
commencement of Mr. Lincoln's second term he 
was reappointed, and held the ofTice till General 
Grant called him to till a higher and much more 
conspicuous position. Mr. Jones was one of 
Mr. Lincoln's most trusted friends and enjoyed 
hi;, fullest confidence. He was summoned by the 
latter on several occasions to Washington for 
consultation upon matters of public interest, and, 
at least once, to confer upon a subject of great 
personal concern to the president. Shortly after 
the crushing victory of the Union forces, com- 
manded by General Grant, over the Confederate 
army at Chattanooga, a movement was set on 
foot by a muuber of influential men in New York 
to gi\e the successful General an independent 
nomination for the presidency. ]\lr. Lincoln was 
too astute and watchful a politician to remain 
long in ignorance of tiiis ho.uile movement, and 
as a matter of course, soon discovered the plans 
of his enemies. Perceiving at once that the na- 
tion's victorious chieftan would pro\-e a danger- 
ous competitor, if he really were ambitious, he 
regarded as of the first importance to satisfy 
himself on that point. Recalling the intimacy 
\vhiQh had grown up between General Grant and 



I\Ir. Jones, he telegraphed for the latter to come 
to Washington. Mr. Jones lost no time in obey- 
ing the president's summons; on reaching Wash- 
ington he reported his arrival to the president, 
stating" that he would call whenever it would be 
most convenient for the president to recei\'e him, 
and was rccjucsted tif call at eight that evening, 
which he did, and was conducted tO' the presi- 
dent's private ofifice, and closing the doors, Mr. 
Lincoln said: "Jones, I've sent for you tO' tell 
me whether or not Grant wants to be president." 
Mr. Jones replied promptly, in accordance with 
what he knew to Ije the fact: Certainly not; he 
would not take the office if it were offered to him. 
So far from being a candidate himself, I know 
him t(j be earnestly in favor of )"Our re-election." 
Mr. Lincoln's countenance relaxed, and the 
haljitual shade of sadness faded from his face, 
as he leaned forward, and putting his hand upon 
Mr. Jones' shoiflder, said: "My friend, you 
don't know how gratifying that is tO' me;" ad- 
ding reflectively, "No man can ever tell how deep 
that presidential grub gnaws till he has had it 
himself." 

Immediately after General Grant's election, 
four years later, he nominated Mr. Jones to the 
senate as minister to I'elgium in grateful appre- 
ciation of his patriotic supjjort of the govern- 
ment's policy during the Civil war; in recogni- 
tion of his services as a member of the National 
Republican Executi\-e Committee during the ixj- 
litical contest which had just terminated, and of 
his high (pialities as a gentleman and citizen. 
He proceeded cpiietlv to his jxist, accompanied 
b}- his family, took possession of the legation on 
the 2 1st of July, 1869, was confirmed in due 
lime, and addressed himself at once unostenta- 
tiouslv Ijut inclnstriouslv to the mastery of the sit- 
uation. One of his first duties was tcj make an 
elaborate report upon the cereal productions of 
P)elgium. by order of the st;ile department, and 
the maimer in which he ditl this left nothing to 
be required, Shortly afterwards he was called 



332 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



upon III iiit(.'rpii>.c" his i;i)(i(l dfilces in behalf of an 
American citi/en uhn hail lieen condemned to 
imprisonment. He did so quietly and without dis- 
play, and succeeded speedily in effecting the re- 
lease of his countryman. When the difficulty 
arose with (Jreat Britain in reference to the con- 
.structiiin of the Treaty nf Wa.shington, no min- 
ister was more active than he in disseminating 
correct information, and in giving public opinion 
a turn favorable to our interests. In the final e.x- 
tinguishment of the Scheldt dues he served tlie 
government witli marked capability and intelli- 
gence. He has also materially assisted in bring- 
ing about an understantling between Belgium and 



the United States which will probabl}- enable 
them to agree ujxin the terms of an extradition 
treaty; and he later furnished for the use of the 
senate committee on transportation an admirable 
report upon the Belgium railways and canals. 

In 1846 Mr. Jones married Miss Scott, the 
ilauglUer of the late Judge Andrew Scott, of .\r- 
kansas. 

In the summer of 1875 Mr. Jones resigned 
and returned to Chicago, and was soon thereafter 
tendered tlie position of secretary of the interior, 
which he declined and was appointed collector of 
the jiort of Chicago. 

In 1888 he retired from active Inisiness. 



HON. ROGER C. SULLIVAN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



The name of Roger Charles .Sullivan stands 
out pr(_>minently in the business world of Chi- 
cagcv and in the history of Cook county politics. 
He was born February 3, 1861, in the city of 
Belvidere, Illinois, and is of Irish parentage. 
His father, Eugene Sullivan, was a merchant of 
Belvidere, and his mother was Mary (Sullivan) 
Sullivan. He is the second eldest of a family of 
six brothers and two sisters, several of whom 
are prominent in pul)lic life, Boetius H. having 
served as sur\'eyor general of South L)akota un- 
der President Harrison, .and Francis J. is the 
Democratic representative from the nineteenth 
senatorial district and minority leader of the 
forty-tiiird general assembly of Illinois. 

Roger C. Sulli\-an early displayed the ster- 
ling traits of character for which his race has 
long been noted. He was educated in the public 
schcxils of Belvidere, and after completing the 
high .school course there came to Chicago and en- 
tered the Bryant and .Stratton Business College, 
where he recei\'ed a thorough business training. 
He was first employed in tlie mechanical depart- 



ment of the Chicago West Division Railway 
Company, with which he remained several years, 
wiien he resigned to accept the apix)intment oi 
custodian of property of the Cook County Hos- 
pital from the board of county commissioners. 
In 1886 Air. Sullivan was appointed by President 
Cleveland to a position in the internal revenue 
department for the northern district of Illinois. 
He remained in the government service four 
_\'ears. and in iS(jo resigned his position to be- 
come the candidate of the Democratic party for 
the office of clerk of tlie probate court of Co(jk 
county. He was elected by a good majority, and 
so satisfactory was his administration of the 
aiTairs of the office that before the expiration of 
his term he was selected for party prom<ition and 
became the logical and unanimous choice of his 
party for the office of county clerk at the en- 
suing election. But in the election of 1894 the 
landslide, caused by the unsatisfactory condition 
of jjublic affairs, carried the Democratic party to 
defeat, and with it many worthy candidates, 
among them Mr. Sullivan. After his retirement 





/Kj^~^^~Y 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



335 



from public office lie JKcanie interested in the 
organization of the Ogden Gas Company. After 
a bitter fight this company secured from the city 
of Chicago a franchise to manufacture anil sell 



trict of Illinois in the Denmcratic national con- 
ventions of 1S92 and 1896 as a delegate. 

Although always a bu.sy man, both in busi- 
ness and politics, a member of many clubs and 



gas in competition with the People's Gas, Light societies, and fond of out-door sports, golf, 
& Coke Company. In the position of secretary yachting, etc., yet Mr. Sullivan is decidely a 

lonie man. He has a kindly heart, the openness 



and treasurer of his company ;\[r. Sulli\an lias 
displayed great executive ability, iiud has estab- 
iishetl this company permanently as one of Chi- 
cago's public service corporations. 

He is also one of the principal stockholders in 
the Cosmopolitan Electric Company, which has 
conduits laid throughoait Chicagx), and from 
which will be transmitted electric power fnr all 
manner of manufacturing and dimiestic pur- 



poses, such as heating. 



cookme', 



lighting, etc.. 



revolutionizing the present manner of li\ing. 
Mr. Sullivan is a successful business man, and 
an extensive owner of improved real estate in 
Chicago, and also owns a large farm in Dakota 
and other properties. He has always maintained 
an interest in county and state politics, is a mem- 
ber of the Democratic state central committee 
and has rejiresented the fifth congressional dis- 



and generosity of which has brought sunshine to 
many hard lives and lightened many a heavv load. 

His success in life is the result of an uncon- 
querable ambition and indcsmitable energy, 
rightly directed. 

Mr. Sullixan is a member of the Irocjuois 
Club, the County Democratic Marching Club, 
the Menoken Club, Sheridan Club, Catholic Or- 
der of Fi_>resters, Garfield Park Council nf the 
National UnidU, Royal Arcanum. Elleserlie Cinlf 
Club, Young Men's Institute and Knights of 
Columbus. 

Mr. Sulli\-an was married in 1884 to Miss 
Helen M. Quinlan. They have five children, and 
reside in a beautiful home on Washington 
Boule\-ard. They also have a fine summer home 
ujion the shores of Fox Lake, Illinois. 



MARSHALL FIELD 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Marshall Field, merchant and financier, was ment. In 1856, soon after attaining his nia- 

borr in Conway, Massachusetts, August, 1835, jority, he came to Chicagn and entered the em- 

and is the son of Jobn and Fedelia (Nash) ployment of Coolev, Wadswortli & Company, 

Field. He is of puritan descent, his earliest one of the pioneer mercantile houses of the chv. 



.\merican ancestors having settled in New Eng- 
land about 1650. The Field family are of Nor- 
man extraction and records are extant of their 
ha\-ing settled in Normandv as earlv as 91 J. 

Marshall Field grew up on a farm and re- 



He displayed a genius for business and four years 
later was taken into partnership with the firm, 
which became known as Cooley, Farwell & Com- 
pany, and a short time afterward as Farwell, 
Field & Company. The firm of Field. Palmer iS; 



ceived the thorough industrial training of the Leiter was formed in 1865 and in 1867 when Mr. 

New England country boy. He acquired a com- Palmer retired the business had a.ssumed vast 

nion school and academic e<lucation, an<l at the pro])ortions. In 1881, Mr. Field purchased Mr. 

age of seventeen went to Pittsfield, Ma.ssachu- Leiter's interest and has since continued the l)usi- 

sttts, and engaged in a dry-goods establish- ness as Marshall Field & Company The present 



336 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



retail estal)lislinient covers almost an entire 
sqnare in the heart of the retail bnsiness district 
of the city and is one of the tinest buildings in 
the AVest. The wholesale business of the firm is 
carried on in a massive granite structure and is 
one of the most notable buildings of its kind in 
the country. Mr. Field has had for iuau\- years 
the largest dr3--g(>ods business in the world. 

In addition to his mercantile interests ]\Ir. 
Field's in\estments are extensive and varied. His 
career is reniarkal)le for its success in a cit\' faiu- 
ous tor its successful Ijusiness men, and the vast- 



ness of their commercial operations. He has 
studiously ax'oided anything that mig'ht appear 
ostentatious and has been liberal in the bestowal 
of charities, exercising always a careful discrim- 
ination in selecting the object of the benelicence. 
Consi)icuous among his contributions tc,* public 
enteriirises was his donation to the University of 
Chicago of a tract of land worth $300,ocxD, and 
$100,000 in cash: and $1,000,000 to the Field 
Columbian Museum. The museum will ever re- 
niain an enduring monument i.,f his generous en- 
dowment. 



JOHN CHARLES SHAFFER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



John C. Shaffer, president of the Evening 
I'ost, of Chicago, was born at Ikdtimore, Mary- 
land, June 5, 1S33, and is a son of James and 
Ann M. ( Crout ) Shaffer. Mr. Shaffer was edu- 
cated at Baltimore, and began his life as a tele- 
graph tjperator, and sul^secpientlv 
entered the grain business, to 
which he devoted his attention 
from 1876 to 1886. He has 
achieved a i)osition of wide in- 
lluence as a business man, and 
many successful operations have 
marked his career. His acquaint- 
ance east, west and south among 
leailing bankers and prominent 
railroad men opened up* to him man\' opportuni- 
ties for useful and profitable investment. The 
consolidation and reorganization of the street 
railways of Indianajjolis, Indiana: tlie construc- 
tion of the Asbnry I'ark .S: L(,'ng Branch elec- 
tric line, on the coast of Xew Jersey : the develop- 
ment of the street railway and electric lighting 
]j!ant of \^icksburg, and the erection of the Pio- 
L'cer grain cknator, oi Cle\-eland, Ohio, mark 
some of the steps in a business career of which 




le may well he proud 



Mr. Shaffer resides at 



Evanston, Illinois, anil his beautiful home con- 
tains, besides a fine collection of rare books and 
autographs, \alualjle paintings and a numlier of 
curios and other rare works of art. 

In April, 1901, Mr. Shaft'er entered upon a 
new career, that of journalism, and purchased 
the E\'ening Post, of Chicago, and has demon- 
strated in his editorial capacity marked ability 
and success and has ])ro\ed a. \aluable accessi(>n 
to Chicago journalistic wt)rk. Fie is keenly alive 
to the responsibilities of his trust, and has the 
entire confidence of his friends. He is a man of 
strong convictions, Init tolerant in his views be- 
lie\'ing that both public and corporate rights 
^houId be respected and protected. Since his 
purchase of the paper he has increased its cir- 
culation fully fifty per cent., and has made it one 
of the leading papers of Chicago. Mr. Shaffer 
has tra\cled extensi\-elv both in England and the 
continent, as well as e\'ery where in the United 
States. Politically he is a Republican, and as a 
journalist his services will be of great value to 
his party. 

Mr. Shaffer is a valued member of several 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



337 



clul)S and social organizatiDiis. He belongs to View Golf Club. Mr. Shaffer was married 
the Union League, Athletic, Mar(|uette, Caxtoii in 1878 and has two sons, Carroll avA Kent 
and E\'anston Cinintrv Clubs, also to the (.ilen Shaffer, 



BENJAMIN 

GALENA^ 

Shortly after mitlnight, Monday morning, 
July 31, 1899, Mr. B. F. Felt was released from 
pain, and Galena suffered an irreparable loss in 
the death of one C)f her most highl\' hunored cit- 
izens. Mr. Felt was hrst stricken with his fatal 
illness on the 15th of December, 
••^". 189''), and except for occasional 

dri\ es, was confined to his home 
1- ^ until his death. 

W y Benjamin b. b\'lt was born at 

tl^ -■* Plattsburg, New York, January 

*■ 3, 182 1, and passed his boyhootl 

davs in the limits of bis native 
town, where he attended the 
common schools until bis fa- 
tlier Ijecanie paralyzed, which misfortune was 
followed within a year l)y the mother's death. 
He then worked die family farm until he was 
twent)-one years i>f age, after which, in the 
spring of 1842. he removed to Galena. Illinnis. 
and entered the employ O'f bis brother, Lucius 
S. Felt, as clerk, a position he occupied for the 
ensuing four vears. earning in this time one thou- 
sand and fifty dollars, seven luuidred ilnllars of 
winch be saved. His theory has been that an\- 
one receiving one dollar a day can save money 
if be spends but ninety cents of it. and to the 
adoption of this theory in practical form may 
be ascribed Mr. Felt's later success. 

In 1846 he was enabled with his savings to 
engage in the grocery business for himself, 
which lie did. and continued therein fur forty- 
five years, or until 1891, with un.varying suc- 
cess. For the last thirty-five years of this period 



F. FELT 

ILL. 

he occupied the same sttjre continuously. In 
1891 Mr. Felt retireil from active Ijusiness and 
devoted himself to caring for the various inter- 
ests that be possessed, as the result of long years 
of industry. 

Mr. Felt has been a stockholder of the Mer- 
cb.ants' National Bank since its organization 
and a irieml)er of its board of directors since the 
death of liis lirotlicr. wh<ini he succeede<l. in 
.1876. He was at one time interested in a bank 
in Iowa and was the owner of considerable real 
estate. He traveled ([uite extensively, visiting 
among other places, the Pacific coast several times. 

During all the vears of bis residence in Ga- 
lena, 'Slv. Felt was forenwjst in ath'ancing 
the citv's i)ro'Sperity. In 1894 lie formed the 
idea of founding a free public library for the 
benefit <_if bis fellow citizens — a pntject in wbich 
he was stnmglv encouraged b)' his daughter, 
.Vnna. He at first tried to interest other citi- 



zens, offering to be one of ten who' should con- 
tribute the necessarv funds: there was no une 
biis equal in liberality and generosity, and he 
was compelled to abandon that nn ule <if pro- 
cedure, ^fr. l'\-lt. Imwever, had decided that 
Galena was to have a pnblic library, and he did 
just what might have been expected of a large- 
b.earted, generous man, paid the entire expense 
himself. With the modesty that characterized 
all of his acts of benevolence — and they were al- 
most numberless — he made it a condition that 
the name of the library should be the Galena 
Public Library and Reading-Room. 

Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Felt was 



338 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



always a liberal cmitrihutur tu the best interests 
i)f the cil_\- <ii his home, and was one of her most 
popular anil respected citizens, yrt he never al- 
lowed his name to- be used in ci>nnecti(_in with 
;iriy jniblic office, although he could tm(|uestion- 
ably have been elected to any position within the 
gift of his townsmen. He had mt desire for po- 
litical preferment, his only interest in ixjlitics be- 
ing that of a citizen desirous of good govern- 
ment. 

Mr. Felt's success was due to econoni_\" and 
prudence, and his career forcibly illustrates what 
may be accomplished by determination and en- 
ergy, in a land where all avenues are open and 
exertion is untrammeled. 

Mr. Felt's interests were nian\-, waried and 
widespread. He was keenly interested in all be- 
nevolent and patriotic measures. He contributed 
largely and frequently to such work as he l)e- 
lieved tended to the betterment and general up- 



lifting of his country. He believed the solu- 
tion of the colored problem was in the educa- 
tion of the colored race, and he contributed regu- 
larly to this cause. He was always an active mem- 
ber of the Presb_\tcrian church e\er since he came 
to Galena, and was elder in the I'irst Pres- 
byterian church for uKjre than twenty-six years. 
Mr. Felt was a liljeral contributor toi all church 
bene\olences, and tO' the Y. M. C. A. work 
throughout the coiuitry. He was especiall)- in- 
terested in the .Vmerican Sunday School Union, 
and a regular contributor to the work of the 
King's Daughters among the lumbermen of the 
north. 

On the iith day of September, 1854, he was 
married to Miss Ann Elizabeth Piatt, of Platts- 
burg. New York, who' still survives him. Three 
children of this union are now living, Z. C., in 
business in Uen\er ; Anna E. ; and B. F., Jr., 
who is engaged in farming at E\erly, Iowa. 



HON. EDWARD SALOMON, LL D. 

FRANKFORT-ON-THE-M.\IN, GERMANY. 

Edward Salomon, e.x-governor of Wisconsin, represented by physicians and clergymen. The 
lawyer, scholar, patriot and statesman, occupied er.tire family belong to the Protestant Lutheran 
the gubernatorial chair during the stirring period church, in which he and his brothers and sisters 
c4 the Civil war. His name occupies a conspicu- as well were also brought up. From 1806 to 
(.'US and honoralile place among the long line of 1815 his father served during the Napoleonic 

wars in the Westphalian Russo-German and 
Prussian armies, first as a private and afterward 
as an officer; he was ses'erely wounded at the 
Ijattle of \\'aterloo, and was decorated with the 
I lid renowned Iron Cross of Prussia and other 
decorations for meritorious conduct in the field ; 



strt)ng and able historical characters representing 
the public men of Wisconsin. 

Edward Salomon was born August 11, 1830, 
at the \illage of Stroebeck, near Halberstadt, in 
Prussia. He is the son of Christoph Salomon. 
born at Stroebeck, October 11, 1786, and died at 
Manitoiwoc, Wisconsin. February 2j. 1872, and after the war he held a modest position in the 
Dorothea Salomon, iicc Klussmann, daughter of ci\-il service of Prussia until the family came to 
a ])hysician, burn at Stroebeck, June 24, 1793, .\nierica in 1853, residing thereafter at Manito- 
and (lied at Manitowoc, Decemlier 8, 1871. Ed- wnc Edward Salomon nad three brothers and 
ward Salomon's ancestors on his father's side two sisters, all of whom came to the United 
were farmers. His mother's family were largely States and ha\'e died here. The eldest brother 




C^c/ur-a^2d J a -Zirn-^^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



341 



was Charles Eberliard Salomon, of St. Louis, 
Missouri, colonel and bre\et brigadier general 
United States Volunteers during the Civil war ; 
the next eldest was Frederick Salonion. of Wis- 
consin, first colonel of the Ninth Wiscmisin \'ol- 
unteer Infantry, afterward brigadier general and 
brevet major general of the United States Vol- 
unteers during the Civil war, and the third and 
youngest brother served as a private in the Union 
army. 

Edward Salomon was educated in the public 
school at Stroebeck and the college (Realschule) 
at Halberstadt, from which he was graduated in 
1847. He then stu<lied at the University of Ber- 
lin, principally mathematics, natural history and 
philosophy. In October, 1849, '^^ came to the 
United States, where his two elder brothers had 
preceded him: the eldest, Charles E., having par- 
ticipated in the revolutionarv mo\ements in Prus- 
sia in 1848, becoming then a political refugee 
and thus eventually causing the transplantation 
of the entire family tO' America. Edward Salo- 
mon first went to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where 
his brother Frederick was then living, and suc- 
cessively taught school, was surveycir and dep- 
uty clerk of the circuit court until December, 
1852, when he entered, as a law student, the 
office of Edward G. Ryan, at Milwaukee, then 
one of the most pr(^minent memljers of the bar of 
Wisconsin, and afterward chief justice of the su- 
preme court of that state. Under bis able and 
experienced direction he studied his profes.sion, 
remaining in the office until 1856, after having, 
upon personal examination l)y the judges of the 
supreme court at Madi.son, been admitted to the 
bar, January 25, 1855. In 1856 he became a citi- 
zen of the United States and in the same year 
entered into partnership with Winfiekl Smith, 
afterward attorney general of the state, under 
the firm name of .Smith & Salomon, which ])art- 
nership continued until he left Wisconsin in De- 
cember, 1869. Mr. Salomon held a marked posi- 
tion at the Wisconsin bar. Well read in his pro- 



fession, clear in thought, forcible in argument, 
and earnest of purpose, he enj(jyed a large share 
of po'pularity and the confidence and respect of 
all. j\mong bis contemporary brethren a few 
only are now stn'\i\ing. aninng wlmm may be 
mentioned Judge James G. Jenkins, General F. 
C. Winkler, of Milwaukee, and E. Mariner. 

Mr. Salnmnn was married May 14, 1858, to 
Elisa, lice .\el)el. of Liege, wlm died at h'rank- 
fort-on-the-Main, (iermany, December 3, 1899. 
They had no children. 

In the general election in November, 1861, 
Mr. Salomon was elected lieutenant governor of 
Wisconsin on the Republican ticket and presided 
over the senate during the following winter. 
Upon the death of Governor Louis P. Harvey, 
April 19, 1862, he succeeded him as governor of 
the state during the years 1862 and 1863. The 
history of his administration is jiart of that of the 
state during those tmublnus years and part nf the 
hi.story of the war of the Rebellion. When he 
became governor very optimistic views prevailed 
at Washington concerning the spee<ly suppres- 
sion of the rebellion and recruiting for new regi- 
ments had lieen stopped by the war department; 
l)ut soon afterward a lack of troops became pain- 
fully apparent and further large calls for volun- 
teers followed in quick successi(m, under which 
he organized, dining the spring and summer of 
1862 fourteen new regiments of infantry, ivnu 
the Twentieth to the Thirty-tliinl Regimeuts, 
\\'isconsin Volunteer Infantry, both inchisi\-e. 
besides furnishing a large number of new re- 
cruits for the older regiments and organizations 
already in the tield. Wisconsin then had only 
about one million of population, and in man\- 
])arts nf the state the crops could not be gath- 
eied fnr want of men. In organizing new regi- 
ments he appointed from the older organizations, 
already in the field, a meritorious pri\-ate or non- 
cnmmissiDued officer as second lieutenant of each 
new company, and a meritorious captain or other 
commissioned officer as one of the field officers 



342 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



of each new regiment, in order as far as possible, 
to give some experiencetl ufticers to each new or- 
ganization and also to rewartl merit. There was 
no law or rule of prdmniinn then existing in 
Wisconsin, while under the then existing sys- 
tem of the \olunteer army the governor of each 
state had the apjKMntment of all officers of the 
military organizations of his state, and the filling 
of all \acancies while in the service of the United 
States. His power was absolute in that resi>ect. 
Ill order to do justice, avoid undue intluence or 
arbitrary action and promote the efficiency of the 
Wisconsin troops. Go'\-ernor Salomon made 
fixed rules of promotion for the filling of all \'a- 
cancies of officers occurring in the military or- 
ganizations in the field and strictly adhered to 
them, by which he had the satisfaction of earn- 
ing the thankful recognition of officers and sol- 
diers not oiilw hut of high general officers in 
command of them. 

In November, 1862, Governor Salomon car- 
ried into effect the so-called state-draft in sev- 
eral counties in the state, which had failed to 
furnish their re(juired mimher of volunteers un- 
der the previous calls. This draft took place 
under a general authority and order of Presi- 
dent Lincoln, in pursuance of an act of congress, 
and is distinguished from the conscriptions of 
subsequent years made directly by United States 
officers under certain later acts of congress. 
Wisconsin is the only state in which the state 
draft was enforced; in New York and Pennsyl- 
vania orders were issued and stejjs were taken 
to enforce it, hut in both it was finally abandoneil 
for fear of jvipular displeasure and viiilent op- 
IKisition. Insurrectionary opposition did occur 
in Wisconsin, but by precautionary measures 
and the prompt employment of sufficient mili- 
tiry force the executive suijpressed it and sue- 
cessfully enforced the draft, e\-en without any 
bloodshed, organizing the Thirty-fourth Regi- 
ment Wisconsin Infantry from the drafted men. 
In executing the draft he had caused to be ar- 



rested and held in military confinement over one 
hundred persons, as ring-leaders of the insur- 
rectionary and riotous j)roceedings, to be tried 
b_\' court martial <n' military commission for 
forcibly lesisting the draft. This proclamation 
the supreme court of the state afterward decided 
to be unconstitutional in a habeas corpus pro- 
ceeding, and thercu])on, after Governor Salomon 
luul ceased to lie governor, he was sued for al- 
leged false imprisonment of the arrested ring- 
leaders. At the trial the insurrectionary char- 
acter of the forcible resistance was proved and 
the governor held not liable for damages in a 
ci\'il action for such forcilile measures as had 
been taken to suppress the insurrection. The 
court decided accordingly and dismissed the com- 
plaint, which decision was, on appeal to the su- 
preme court of the state, afterwards affirmed. See 
Druecker vs. Salomon, Vol. 21. Wis. Rep., page 
621. In regard to Governor Salomon's administra- 
tion William De Loss Love says in "Wisconsin 
ill the War of the Rebellion," ■'Throughout his 
term of office the war raged with unabating fury, 
and his principal labors were wisely directed ti>- 
wards sui)p<:rting the general government in its 
gigantic struggle. Had he lieen otherwise than 
loyal to the core, the danger would have been 
incalculable. The facts speak for themselves, 
;ind facts, not pom])ous praise, are the record 
of history. But this fact may properly Ije note<l 
here, that every man ih>cs well who pro|)erly fills 
his place, whatever that may be; and to have 
filled well the place of governor of a loyal 
American state during two years of the war 
o,f the reliellion is no trilling commendation of 
honor." 

September 22. 1862, Go\-ernor 'Salomon ti«ik 
])art in the meeting of governors of northern 
states, held at .\ltooiia, in the Alleganies. for the 
purpose of inducing President Lincoln to issue 
an emancipation proclamation as a necessary and 
proper measure; liut upon arrival there it was 
found that the president had anticipated them 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



343 



Ijy the issue uf his faniaus emancipation procla- 
mation of tiiat date. Gladly they congratulated 
him upnn his acti(ni in a personal \isit and hy 
assurances of hearty support in the energetic 
prdsecutioii of the war. By a special session of 
tlic legislature called 1)y Governor Salomon hir 
that and other purposes, a law was passed upon 
his reciimmendation. gi\-ing to the Wisconsin 
soldiers in the field the right to vote at elections 
which (itherwise they would have heen depri\-ed 
of by their absence from home and witlmut 
which vote gross injustice might ha\'e been done, 
for those oj>[»sed to the war had not volunteered 
but remained at home. 

In 1857 Governor Salomon was elected by 
the legislature a member of the board of regents 
of the lTni\-ersity of the State of Wisconsin, he 
took an active part in the management and was, 
for a number of years afterward, president of 
the boaril, resigning shortly liefore he left the 
slate. Wben he became a member of the board, 
the affairs of the university were in a deplorable 
condition for want of sufficient income, prin- 
cipally because the capital funds, to' the extent 
of about $100,000. had been largely used in the 
erection of buildings, and the proposition was 
seriously urged and considered in the board to 
close the institution and perhaps to distribute its 
funds among other colleges. To this he was ut- 
terly opixised and to<ik the jjosition that the di- 
vision of the funds for buildings was in con- 
travention of the spirit of the grant of the funds 
I)y the United States, that the state should ha\e 
provided the buiildings and should refund the 
principal so diverted, or at least aniuiallv the in- 
terest thereon, al)out seven thousand dollars. 
The university in its crippled condition had then 
few warm friends and many opixHients, but by 
dmt of argument and perseverance, the legisla- 
ture finally sul)Stantially adopted his \ie\\s and 
made appropriations, which enabled the board of 
regents to preserve and develop the institution, 
which since then and for many )ears i>ast has 



b'ecome an honor to the state and to the west. 
He also urged upon the legislatiu'e the cmlxwli- 
ment of the Agricultund College and its fund 
with the uni\ersit\-, in order to give strength to 
both, which was done. In iSAj the lio.ard of 
regents of the university conferred upon him the 
h( norar)- degree of LL. D. 

In Decanber, 1869, Governor Salomon left 
Wisconsin to take up his residence in the city 
of Xew York, principally on account of the 
health of his wife. His departure was deeply 
regretted liy the people, the press and the bar, 
and he was held in the highest esteem by all 
classes. He was given a public farewell dinner 
in Milwaukee on December 11, 1869. Mr. O. 
H. Waldo expressed the regrets of the Bar .As- 
sociation aufl on its liehalf made a presentation 
of the Wisconsin Reports. He took up and fol- 
lowed his profession in New York City until 
May, 1894, when he retired from practice, and 
has since then been living at Frankfort-on-the- 
.Mairi. in (iermany, where the climate and other 
Conditions of life were more fa\-Hirable to his in- 
\;di(l wife, who died there in December, 1899. 
In Xew York City he was cinmsel for the Ger- 
mania Life Insurance Company, the German- 
American Bank, the German Savings Bank anil 
the German Consulate General. In the latter 
cap;tcit\' he had the conduct of the extradition 
cases of fugitives from Germany and was thus 
enabled to' assist in settling the formerly very 
uncertain practice and principles applicable to 
that peculiar branch of the law. He obtained 
;ir,d maintained a high and honorable position 
at the Bar of New York. His tirms were suc- 
cessively, Salomon & Burke, Salomon, Hall & 
Dulon. Salomon & Dulon and Salomon, Dulon 
& Sutro. 

I'oliticall\- he acted with the l\e])ublican party 
from the time that Mr. Lincoln was first a can- 
didate for the jjresidency, except that he sup- 
jiorted Mr. Cleveland's first election. He always 
took an active part in national and state elec- 



344 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



tions. In 1871 and 1872 lie was a member of 
the well known "Cnniniittee of Seventy," which 
was organized upcni the discovery of the gross 
and scandalons frands of tlie infanmns "Tweed 
King," and did nnicli to rescne tlie city from that 
hand of phmderers. Of this Committee of Sev- 
enty he was chairman of the Committee on Leg- 
islation, which drafted and urged the adoption 
and passage l)y the legislature of the necessary 
reform measures. 

During the German-French war of 1870 he 
v.as president of an organizatinn in New York- 
City of German Americans, which extended its 
activitv throughiiut tlie United States, for the 
imriHise (jf collecting fimds fur the relief of the 



sick and wounded German soldiers, and which 
collected and transmitted over a million dollars 
for that purpose. He was also president of the 
great German Peace Festi\al held in New ^'l)rk 
City to commemorate the peace upon the couclu- 
sion of that war. In 1875 he was one of the ten 
founders, and, until 1888, the president of the 
German Legal Aid Society of New York, which 
since its foundation has given gratuitously most 
valuable legal aid and assistance to many thou- 
sands of poor annually, for the first twenty years, 
mainly to natives of Germany, now to the ixx>r 
and distressed of all nationalities, therefore 
changing its name to Legal Aid Society of New 
York. 



HENRY M. MENDEL 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 

Henry M. Mendel was born in the city of year, at the close of the Civil war, he started in 

Breslau, Province of Silesia, Germany, on Oc- business with Marcus Stein, under the firm name 

tober 15, 1839, and received his early education of Stein & Mendel, which succeeded and pros- 

in. a private school, but later entered the gym- pered. when in 1871 he retired from the firm to 

nasium (equal to our better colleges), where he engage in the manufacture and sale of clothing 

remained until he left his fatherlaml for the "land under the firm name of Adler, Mendel & Com- 

of the free and the home of the brave." He ar- pany, and in 1879 he again changed his Inisiness 

rived in Milwaukee on the 24th day of August connections, and engaged in the manufacture of 

in the year 1854. not quite fifteen years old, oil tobacco as an officer in the Western Steam 

the mcmoral)le day for the city, when it was vis- Tobacco works, where he remaine<l until 1882, 

itcd by its most destructive conflagration. He when he .'^old his interest to his partner and pre- 

found work as clerk in a store at a salary of ten pared to visit his old fatherland and the near 

dcvllars a month, board and lodging included. relatives still living there. But this plan could 

His opportunities were not such as he desired to not l)e carried out as concerning himself, because 

enable him to ac(inire the use of the English Ian- Ex-Governor William E. Smith, a good friend 

guage, so he accepted a position in the ot^ce of of Mr. Mendel, insisted upon the formrition of 

the county register of deeds as cc^pying clerk, a partnershi]) l)etween the two, which was 

where after two vears' service as such he became effected in the spring of 1882 and resulted in 

deputy register of deeds. Returning again to the cstablishnient of the well-known and highly 

mercantile pursuits, be accepted a position as rcput.able wholesale grocery and nnporting firm 

bookkeeper with a manufacturing establishment, of Mendel, Smith & Company. Ex-Governor 

where he remained until the fall of 1865. In that Smith died early in 1883, about eleven months 





^/^^ 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



347 



after the original firm of Smitli, Mendel & Cnm- 
pany iiad organized, anil it devolved upon Air. 
Mendel and his junior partner, the older son of 
the ex-g(i\ernor. Ira B. Smith, to continue the 
Inisiness. "fhe latter represented the estate of the 
governor and later his \-ounger hrother. Grant 
Smith, hecanie a partner in the hnsiness, but 
unfortunately this terminated .after one year's 
duration l>_\- the untimely death of the much- 
lamented and talented young business man. The 
firm of Mendel, Smith & Company, which was 
under the management of the senio^r partner, had 
in a comparati\-ely short time grown to one of the 
largest and most influential business concerns in 
the west. 

In 1897, after over forty years of incessant 
and fruitful labor, Mr. Mendel was forced to 
relinquish the further management of 1)usiness of 
any kind owing to sudden collapse from over- 
work, and retired to pri\-ate life, and his interest 
in the firm which his sagacious activity had Iniilt 
up passed to a stock company, which is contin- 
uing the business. Mr. Mendel is a close student 
of finance and economics and his opinion is often 
sought in matters pertaining to these practical 
sciences, and on which he writes in terse and 
con\'incing manner. 

Mr. Mendel was married in iSfig to Isabella, 
the daughter of David Adler, Es(pure, and his 
famih' consists of his twi) sons, Dr. ivlwin M. 
Mendel, now practicing physician in New York, 
a graduate of Harvard College, the University 
of Breslau. Germany, and the College of Physi- 
cians and Surgeons of Columl>ia University of 
New York: Alfred i^I. Mendel, a graduate of 
the high school and for a time a student at the 
ur.iversitv at Aladison : his daughter, Elsie P.. 
the wife of Dr. Samuel H. Friend. 

Tiie social position of Mr. Mendel is equal 
to- that attained as a business man. He has occu- 
pied nianv positions of trust and honor with re- 
markable success owing to his indomitable en- 
ergy and resource. Nearly forty years ago he 

18 



was the chief mover in building the first large 
Music Hall, and which was remodeled under his 
management, now the .Academy of Music; for 
Some years he was consjjicuously engaged in 
arousing interest in an exposition building, and 
he succeeded in securing" for it a large sum 
of money. He was for many years a director 
arid vice-president of the Exposition Association 
and a member of the building and finance com- 
mittee; for a long term a director of the Mer- 
chants' Association, and for years has repre- 
sented this body at the annual meetings of the 
National Board of Trade, where, as an assist- 
ant to that indefatigable worker. Jay L. Torrey, 
he helped to outline an.d carry to successful ter- 
mination the enactment of the national bankrupt 
act. Mr. Mendel is much devoted to the study 
and practice of the arts, especially music, which 
has found in him a stanch devotee and supjxirter. 
He is O'ue of the oldest living and honorary mem- 
bers of the Milwaukee Musical Society, and has 
been its presiding ofiicer repeatedly; also of the 
Arion Club, whose honorary memlDer he is. In 
1883 he was elected president of the North 
American Saengerbund. a national organization 
of many thousand mejiibers, which had its Na- 
tional Musical Festival in Milwaukee in 1886, 
and of which, as of the "Bund," Mr. Mendel was 
president. The festival was managed by him 
from its inception to its successful clo.se, and un- 
der his leadership' and plans minutely directed 
and executed the festival became the greatest of 
its kind ever known in this country. It brought 
about one hundred thousand strangers to Mil- 
waukee and carried its fair name in glory to all 
quarters of the civilized globe. He was also the 
organizer, ])romoter and during their existence 
the president of the Milwaukee Conservaton,' of 
Music and the vice-president of an Art Associ- 
ation. Mr. Mendel is one of the charter members 
of the "Deutsche Clul>." and an honorary mem- 
ber of the Milwaukee Press Club, a member of 
the Milwaukee Club, also of the German Press 



4^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Club, a director in tlie National German-Ameri- scholarly attainments and contrilnites to newsiia- 



can Teachers' Seminary, and has been the pro- 
m(,ter of everything which might have tended to 
advance the prosperity ni the city and is (jne of the 
l)icincers anmng its citizens who has gixun more 
ihan his share oi time and money to make Mil- 
w.ankee what it is to-dav. Mr. INIcndel ha^ man\- 



P 

pers and pericxlicals on topics of practical import, 
finances and art matters. He must he regarded as 
a t\i)ical Genuan-American of the class which 
has shared much in tlie de\elnpment of this coun- 
try and whose work must leave an impression 
upon the attainments and culture of its future. 



W. CLYDE JONES 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

W. Clyde Jones, corporation lawyer, author iron mines of Michigan the first electric lamps 
and orator, is a man of distinguished profes- employed in mines. 



sional attainments. ¥nr the short time he has 
been practicing law in Chicago he has made a 
name and position for himself that is truly re- 
markable. 

Mr. Jones was b(.)rn at Pilot 
Groxe, Lee countv, Iowa, De- 



Coming to Chicago he attended the evening 
sessions of the Chicago College of Law. Dur- 
ing the day he was employed as an electrical ex- 
pert, serving as an expert witness in litigation 
involving electrical matters. In 1893 he received 
a prize from the Electrical Engineering Maga- 
cember 27, 1870, and is a son zine for an essay on "Electricity at the World's 
of Jonathan Jones, who is of Fair," since which time he has beeu a frequent 
Welsh descent, was a Quaker, contributor to electrical and scientific journals, 
and in 1833 mo\-ed from Harri- .\n article on the "Ex-olution of the Telephone," 
son county, Ohio, and settled in by him, has become classic and has l)een pub- 
the southeastern part of lo-wa, lished and republished by many periodicals, 
where he ])re-empted govern- Mr. Junes was one oi the founders of the 

meni land and later laid out the town of Pilot (.'resent Chicago Electrical Association, and in 
Groxe. .Mrs. [ones was of English ancestry and 1896 was its president. He is a member of the 




from the (juakcr famil\- of lluffingtons, of Penn- 
sylvania. 

When W. Clyde Jones was three years of 
age his parents settled in Keokuk, low.i, where 
he accpiired his education, .\fter leaxing high 



Franklin Institute of Phila(Ieli>hia, and of the 
Society of Mechanical Engineers, of New York. 
in 1894 he graduated from the Chicago College 
of Law, and the following year pursued a post- 
graduate course, receiving a degree from the 



school he enten-d the Iowa State College, taking Lake Forest Uni\ersity. His graduation thesis, 
the course in electrical engineering and gradu- entitled "Trusts and Trade Monoiwlies," was 
attd with honors in 1891, being one of two in pul)lished in a number of law journals. In 1896 
scholarship, standing at the head of the list of he read an exhaustive paper before the North- 
graduates from the institution up to that time. western Electrical Association on "The Legal 
lie was then engaged for some time in design- Rights of Electrical Companies." In 1896 he 
ing machinery and the installation f)f electrical ciMumenced the practice of law and in 1899 
a])paratus, ba\-ing assisted in installing in the formed a partnership- with Keenc H. .\ddington, 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



349 



under the name nf Jones & Addingtun, which 
partnership stiU continues. His practice is most- 
ly corporation law. and he is counsel for a num- 
her (if large comi)anies. He is retained largely 
in cases involving- electrical questions. In 1898 
Air. Jones was retained hy the autoniohile com- 
lianies to contest the ordinance of the Board of 
South Park Commissioners excluding automo- 
Ijiles from the boulevards and parks on account 
of danger from frightened horses. After a bit- 
ter fight in the courts the ordinance was declareil 
void. This was the first decision in which the 
rights of the automobiles on tlie streets and road- 
ways were established. In 1899, during the 
Fall Festival at Chicago Mr. Jones acted as chief 
aide to President McKinley, having charge of 
tliC arrangements for the President's reception. 
He also acted in the same position during the 
Grand Army Encampment in 1900. Mr. Jones has 



taken an active part, as a speaker in all national, 
state and municiiial campaigiis of the Republican 
party since 189O, and frequently delivers ad- 
ch'esses at college and high school commence- 
ments, and on similar occasions. He is a fiucnt 
sfjeakcr, a lirilliant orator and a successful 
lawyer. 

Mr. Jones was married in 1896 to Miss 
Emma Boyd, of Paullina, Iowa, and they reside 
in Hyde Park. He is a member of the Hamil- 
ton, Union League, East End and Miillothian 
Country Clubs, and is presideiat of tlie National 
Alumni Association of the Iowa State College. 
He is also' a member of the Chicago Law Insti- 
tute, Chicago' Bar Association and the Civic 
Federation and is one of the advisory commit- 
tee of the Legislative Voters" League. Co-jointly 
with his partner, he is the author of "Jones & 
Addington's Annotated Statutes of Illinois." 



MORTON TAYLOR CULVER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Among the prominent and clcx'cr younger age, luU later attended the Kent Law Sclnwil, of 
members of the Chicago bar is Morton Ta}'lor Chicago, from whicli institution he graduated 
Cuh'cr. He entered upon his professional career with the class of 1894. He entered upon his pro- 
be fore he was twenty-two 3'cars of age and made ftssional career in 1892 and has since engaged in 
a specialty of realty and commercial law, but is the acli\e practice of law. 

t thoroughly informed in all the For nine years Mr. C_'nl\er was a member of 

branches of juris])ruilence. Mr. the First Regiment. IHinois Xational (iuard. the 

CuKer resides at Glencoe, of regiment which made such a brilliant record in 

which village he was president its service in Cuba during" the war with Sjiaiu. 

fe>r twoi years up to April i, 19OJ. Mr. Culver is a representative Republican and an 



\);c^mitl0^ 



Pre\ious to this he was attorney 
for the village for two )ears. 

Morton T. Cuber was born 
in Chicago, December 2. 1870, 
aiid is the son of Morton and Eugenia M. Taylor 
Cuber. He was educated in the ])ublic schools 
arid completed the law course in tlie Northwest- 
ern Law School, graduating in T890, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar as soon as he arri\-ed at leoal 



acli\e worker for the part\"s success, lie is a 
n:eniber of the (ilencoe Republican Club, of 
which he was secretary for several vears. He is 
aiso a memlier of the .\. O. Fay Lodge, No. ()/6, 
A. F. & A. M.. of Highland Park, Illinois, and 
of Unity Council of the National C^nion, at Ev- 
anston. 

Mr. Culver was married in June, 1899, to- a 
daughter of Thomas TIawkes, of Chicago-. 



350 PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 

DR. BYRON ROBINSON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Dr. r.vrDii Riibinson prides liim.self on being result devised, for intestinal anastomosis, the 

country horn and hred. His- father and mother, cartilage, the rawhide and segmanted rubber 

William and Mary Robinson, came to this coun- plate, and the rawhide anastomosis button, which 

try from England in 1845, and located on a farm can be employed without sutures. He originated 

in central Wisconsin, near Hollandale, where the "stove pipe" operation to displace circular 

they lived together for over fifty years. Here enterorrpaphy, and in vaginatiini fur circular en- 

iiis father died, while his mother still resides on terorrpaphy, without sutures; also two methods 

the old homestead. of preventing intestinal invagination sulisecpient 

Dr. Robinson's earlv life was spent on the to operations, one, the rubber tube, an<l the cither, 

farm and bis education was commenced in the which is of more value, the suturing of the distal 

classic log school h(juse. He afterward worked gut end to the proximal bowel mesentery. 

his way through the Mineral Point Seminary, Dr. Robinson has been for years a liberal 

and later through the Wisconsin University, contributor to the leading medical journals. He 

where he was graduated in 1878 with the degree is the author nf "Intestinal Surgery," "Auto- 

of B. S. He was assistant to the professor of matic Menstrual Ganglia," "Urachial Cysts," 

chemistry during his senior year at the univer- "The Abdnminal Brain and Automatic Visceral 

sity, and while principal of a high school the two Ganglia," "Landmarks in Gynecology" and the 

years following graduation studied medicine "I^eritoneum," which appeared in 1897. He has 

with Dr. U. P. Stair. He then entered Rush published a life-sized chart of the synipathetic 

Medical College, completed the course in i88j nerve, drawn from nature. He is the originator 

and went to Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, where he of the utero-ovarian vascular circle, frequently 

comnienced the practice of his profession. In called "the circle of Byron Robinson," and the 

1884 Dr. Robinson left for Europe, spending view that in the condition of visceral ptosis 

two years in studying surgery and gynecology' in gastro-duodenal dilitation is due the compression 

Heidelberg, Berlin and London. In 1887 he of the superior mesenteric artery, vein and nerve 

again went al)road, this time spending an entire on the transverse segment of the duoilenum. He 

year in Vienna in the study of his chosen speci- ]niblished a book on colpo-perineorrhaphy in 

alty, gynecology. In 1889 he was appointed to 1808. He has published a wall chart, entitled 

the chair of anatomy and clinical surgery in "Byron Robinson's Landmarks in Gynecology, 

Toledo Medical College, which be occupied for in the Tractus Intestinalis and in the Periton- 

two years, gaining the reputation of a capable euni," with colored drawings valuable and sug- 

and clear clinical teacher. In 1890 he crossed gestive alike to instructors and students. Dr. 

tlie ocean again, and spent six months with Mr. Robinson is attending gynecologist to the Wo- 

Lawson Tait. of Birmingham, England. In man's Hospital and consulting surgeon of the 

1 89 1 be came to Chicago and was elected to the Mary Thompson Hospital. He is professor of 

professorship of gynecology in the Post Gradu- cynecology and abdominal surgery in the Illinois 

ate Medical School. In 1887 Dr. Robinson be- Medical College and Harvey Medical College. 

gan a series of original investigations in in- He has for years conducted a post graduate 

testinal surgery. He made over two hundred school of gynecology and abdominal surgery. 

experiments on tlic intestines of dogs, and as a lie was married in 1894 to Dr. Lucy Waite, 





T-m 




y^u^^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



353 



of Chicagu. Dr. Robinson is pre-eminently an 
investigator. He is a close student and is un- 
known to the social clubs of the city. When not 
actually engaged in his practice he is to be found 
at his desk or in his den, where are to be found 
all the necessary aids and instruments fur the dis- 
sections and experiments which have founded the 
basis for all his writings. Here he takes his 
recreation and finds his pleasure in his work. In 
prei)aring the first volume on the [jcritoneum he 
dissected the peritoneum and \iscera of one hun- 
dred different species of fish. He is now en- 
gaged in the dissection of the peritoneum of 
amphibious l)irds and mammals for the second 
volume of that great work, which is to be 
(.lescripti\-e and comparati\-e. Some ha\e (loul)t- 
ed tliat all this work could be done pers(jn- 
ally and practically by one engaged in such 
a large surgical practice as Dr. Robinson is 
known to have, not being able to realize the 
eiK.irnious amount of work that can Ije done 
Ijy one man in perfect health who does not 
frequent clubs nor waste one hour i)f the twenty- 
four in any kind of dissi])ation. It is no e.x- 
aggeration tO' say that Dr. Robins(jn has the 
reputation in the profession of being one of its 
most conscientious and arduous workers. His 
leputation as a v.'riter is not confined to this coun- 
try, his articles having been published in the 
Journal of Anatomy and Physiology of Edin- 
bin-gh and copied in many British, French and 
German journals. He has contributed his full 
share to the development of gynecology and 
abdominal surgery in America. He was the first 
to announce (T894) that appendicitis was due to 
trauma of the psoas muscles, and is one of the 
most skillful operators for that disease in the 
co'untry to-day. It was he who also first an- 
nounced to the medical world that gonorrhoea is 
a cause of rectal strictures and vesicnlae sem- 
males. Dr. Rol>insoii is a born teacher, as his 
many students scattered all over the United 
States can testify. His furceful manner in 



demonstration, wliether it be a dissection or a 
surgical operation on the living subject, im- 
presses the student and becomes a mental picture 
not easily erased. Flis extensive researches on 
the sympathetic nerve, chiefly embodied in his 
book entitled, '^Abdominal Brain and Automatic 
Visceral Ganglia," have been repeatedly an- 
nounced by the foremost authorities as not only 
of merit and \-alue but as eivoch making. When 
"Robinson's Landmarks in Gynecology" ap- 
peared, Mr. Lawson Tait, the greatest surgical 
genius of this age, said, "The classification of 
the subject is very original." Of Byron Rob- 
inson's most* extensive work, "The Peritoneum," 
Prof. Howard Kelley .said, "It looks like one of 
the best pieces of scientitic wurk that has come 
out of this country." 

Prof. Henry Lyman says of him : "Dr. By- 
ron Robinson is a man (jf ability in original re- 
search. He is remarkable for industry in a de- 
partment that is not ordinaril)- culti\atcd l)y prac- 
ticing physicians." 

Mr. Lawson Tait in 189 1 remarked, in an 
introduction to the late Prof. Reeves Jackson, of 
Chicago: "Dr. Byron Robinson has been a pupil 
of mine for six months. His name is alreatly as 
well known on your side as on this side of the 
Atlantic by researches in abdominal surgery, and 
I am sure from my experience of him lie is a 
man who will make his mark in nur department." 
In this connection, moreover, mav lie (pmted the 
words of those eminent surgeons, Drs. Nicholas 
Senn and Christian Fenger, than whom none are 
better cpialified to form an enlightened and un- 
biased estimate of the true value of the life work 
and researches of their l)rethren of the profes- 
sion. Dr. Senn, writing of Dr. Rnhinson, makes 
use of these wurds: "He is (jne of the most 
hard working men in the profession. His work 
on the histology and surgery of the peritoneimi 
is epoch making. His experimental investiga- 
tions have become a part of .American medical 
literature. Work is his recreation." .\nd Dr. 



354 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Fenger ailded this tribute u\ unstinted praise: 
"Dr. Bvrun RuliinsdU reminds une of tlie plod- 
ding, liard-working European scientists, who 
snl)ordinates everything, social and material, to 
his work. His research on the peritmienm and 
the sympathetic nervous system have made his 
work known where\-er earnest work is honored. 
His treatise on the peritoneum is unique of its 
kind and is a classic. His results are based upon 
thousands of personal investigations on the 
human subject and on animals, as well as upon 
a careful perusal of the voluminous literature of 
the subject. His 'Ijibliograpliy of the Periton- 
eum, occupies more than one hundred pages 
of the work and is here for the first time 
compiled." 

Dr. William J. (iillette, professor of abdomi- 
nal and clinical surgery in Toledo Medical Col- 



lege, in an address on the growth of medicine and 
medical institutions in Toledo, said, "As yet, 
however, Toledo has not produced a great com- 
maniling medic:d genius, though there have li\ed 
and worked here twn men of genius. 1 reler to 
Dr. J- H. I'ooley and Dr. Bynni iviiliins<in, of 
Chicago. These men without doubt were the 
strongest medical men who ever resided within 
the borders of the city. They were not fully 
appreciated when with us, but, after ah, this is 
the fate accorded always to men of their stamp. 
The time is sure to come when most of us will 
be forgotten. Not so, however, with these two. 
It will conTC to pass that the profession here will 
consider it one of its greatest honors that they 
tmce lived and labored with us. Dr. Byron Rob- 
inson started experimental medicine it: Toledo 
from which many lives have been saved." 



ALBERT HALE VOLLINTINE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



A Hale \'ollintine was born on a farm near 
Ta_\lorville. Christian ccmnty, Illinois, August 14, 
1863. He and his sister Elizabeth Irene, now 
Mrs. C. A. Sattley, being twins. Their parents 
were George Wesley Vollintine and Mary yiar- 
tha \V>llintine, wh<;i had a family 
of fourteen children, eight daugh- 
ters and six sons, ten of the chil- 
dren are still living, four daugh- 
ters and six sons. The parents 
celebrated their golden wedding, 
September 2, 1895, and still re- 
side in Taylorville. 

A. Hale Vollintine attended 
the country school near Tay- 
lorville until fifteen years of age, then the pub- 
lic school at Taylorville until eighteen; en- 
tered Lincon University, Lincoln, Illinois, in 
1883, from which he was graduated in June, 




1887, when he returned to Ta_\"lorville and ti»ok 
up tlic study (if law in the office of W. M. Provine 
and later in the office of John G. Drennan. Sep- 
tember, 1889. he entered Union College of Law, 
Chicago, taking a two years course in one year 
and graduated in June, 1890. Having als(j taken 
the state examinatiun at Ottawa, Illinois, for ad- 
mission to the bar; he was admitted before grad- 
uating from the law school. Mr. Vollintine 
then entered the law office of Smith, Helmer & 
IMoulton, Chicago, where he remained about a 
vear, and was later connected with the firm of 
Black & Fitzgerald for three years, since which 
time he has practiced alone. 

Mr. Vollintine is an active and aggressive 
law_\-er and is meeting with success in his chosen 
profession. Fie is a Republican in politics, a 
member of the Marquette Club, Knights of 
Pvthias, and of the National Union, He is a 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



355 



incml)er of tlie Evaiiston Avenue M. E. church, Mr. VulHntine was married, October 24, 

dedicated in June, 1902, and took a prominent 1893. to Miss Minnie E. Goodenougii, daughter 

part in the erection of this ciunxli, is superjn- of William B. Goixlenough, a memljer of the 

tendent of the Sunday school, having held this firm of Hamilton & Merryman Lumber Ci'nii)any 

positidu tVir the past five years. He has al- of Marinette, Wisconsin, Imt for manv vears a 

ways been acti\e in church and Sunday-school resident of Chicago. Mrs. W)llintine before her 

work and is now treasurer of the Chicago marriage was connected with tlie ]mblic schools 

Methodist Social Union, which is represented of Chicago. They have had two chilih'en. Fran- 

by all the Methodist churches in Chicago and cis G., who died in infancy and Martha Elizabeth 

\icinity. Vollintine, now a year and a half old. 



MARVIN A. FARR 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Marvin A. b'arr, the well-known real-estate 
man of Chicago, was born in I'lssex county. New 
York, in 1853. He is a son of George W. and 
Esther (Day) Farr. Through both parents he 
traces his ancestry back to the seventeenth cen- 
tury. His grandfather was 
Randall Farr, Ijefore whom there 
were f<iur Steiihen b'arrs, the 
first one of Concord, Massachu- 
setts, in I ("175. 

While still a child Mr. Farr's 
parents left New \'ork and took 
u]) their residence in ^Michigan. 
After the customary attendance 
at pul)lic schools Mr. Farr en- 
tered Carriill College at Waukesha, Wisconsin, 
at which place in due time he graduated. He 
then continued his education under special in- 
struction, and suljsecpiently supplemented his 
studies with extensive travels through the United 
States and other American, as well as European, 
countries. 

In 1873 Mr. Farr located in Chicago, enter- 
ing the employ of Alessrs. H. H. Porter and 
James B. Goodman, who were engaged in the 
lumber and real-estate business. His interests in 




real-estate matters have always been keen and his 
wide experience along these lines ha\e well ([uali- 
fied him for an active and infiuential part in such 
affairs. As a fitting tribute to the esteem in 
which he is held he was elected president in 1897 
of the Chicago Real Estate Board. He was at 
one time manager of the West Chicago Land 
Companv, Init at present he confines his atten- 
tion entirelv to real-estate matters. Mr. Farr is 
a member of many social organizations in Chi- 
cago. Among them are the L^nion League Club, 
of which he was the first vice-president, the Chi- 
cago Literary Club, the Midlothian Country 
Ciul), the Kenwood Club, of which be was for 
two or three years president, and the lllimris 
Clul), of which he was for some time secretary. 
He is a stanch supporter of the principles of the 
Republican party; has taken an active part in 
public matters pertaining tO' property interests 
and civic decency, 1)ut has never been a candidate 
for political oftice. He holds meml>ership in the 
Kenwood Evangelical church. 

^Ir. Farr was married in 1886 to Miss Char- 
lotte Camp, only daughter n\ the late Isaac X. 
Camp. They have one child, Xewton Camp 
FaiT, 



356 



PROMINENT AlEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



EDWIN REYNOLDS 

MILWAUKEE. WIS. 

Tlie leaders in tlie liistnrx' of the world are nized as mie ni the greatest engineering experts 
few; it is the rare exceptiun when one man steps of the country. He was engaged from 1858 to 
fn ni the beaten paths to stand far in advance and 1867 in i>erfecting various types of machinery, 
point the way to greater possibilities and higher and much of this work is in constant employment 
acliievements. The mind seems loath to accept to-day, undisplaced by the continual dex'elojjmeiU 
a new truth, an unfamiliar idea, but advance- of new mechanical and engineering ideas. 
ment presents an e\er broadening view. Many Mr. Reynolds entered the employ of the Gor- 
men possess one or more of the essentials that liss Steam Engine Gompany, of Providence, 
lead tO' success, but it is the possession of all that Rhode Island, in 1867, and in 1871 became its 
makes a man a leader in his profession. The general superintendent. He remained in this 
true measure of individual success is determined position luitil i^^jj. when he associated himself 
bv accomplishment; there is no other test. The with the late lulward I*. Allis. of Milwaukee, 
truly famous men of the dav are those who ha\e and began the dc\elopnient of \arious improve- 
created. either in connection with the wonderful n'cnts of his own on the Corliss type oi engine. 
industrial and mechanical progress of the times He left what was at that time the greatest en- 
or in the realm of mental acti\'ity. The part ginc mrnuifacturing establishment in the world, 
wiiich Mr. Reynolds has had in the practical ap- with full faith in himself, in ^lilwaukee, and with 
plication of steam is as widely known as is the the man he had chosen to> associate himself. His 
industrial development of the United States, courage was well rewarded, for the new venture 
Although his work has been largely identified grew and prosjjered. ;\Ir. Reynolds remained 
with the name of the great manufacturing com- identified with lulward P. Allis & Company, and 
pany of which he is an ot^cer, it has not pre- upon the dearii of Edward P. Allis was made one 
\ented his own name from becoming famous 1>y of the trustees of his estate and at the formation 
bis new methods of application of old and sound of the Edward P. Allis Company became vice- 
engineering ideas. president. In 1900, when the Allis-Cbalmers 
Edwin Reynolds is an eastern man by Ijirth Ci:mpany was formed, a consolidation of the 
and training. He was born at Mansfield, Con- business interests of the Edward P. Allis Com- 
necticut, March 2Ti. 1831. He owes his early pany, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the Eraser & 
education to the public schools of his native place. Chalmers Company. Chicago; the Gates Iron 
At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to learn Works, Chicago, and the Dickson Manufactur- 
the trade of machinist. .After considerable ex- ing Companx', of Scranton, Penns_\'l\'ania. he bc- 
perieuce along this line he took up' his residence came chief engineer of the Allis-Chalmers Com- 
in Aurora, Indiana, as shop superintendent for pany, one of the strongest consolidated interests 
Stedman & Gompany, mamifacturers of heavy in the United States. 

m;ichinery for plantation use. At the breaking Mr. Reynolds' success as a mechanical engi- 

out of hostilities, at the commencement of the neer is largely due to his deep insight into the 

Civil war, Mr. Reynolds returned east, but he fundamental principles underlying the science of 

was no longer merely a machinist; his name was mechanism and his ability to apply them in de- 

already becoming known and his abilities recog- signed machinery. The instances have been 



V 





^C^'^^H^'-T.-*-^ 




^^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



359 



almost innumerable in which Mr. Reynolds' pro- 
ductions have worked radical changes in current 
engineering practice. He designed for the nld 
Juliet Steel Coinpan)- a Jjlnwing engine entirely 
different from any that ha<l hithertu been con- 
tracted. .\mong the designs submitted by engi- 
neering experts all over the world, Mr. Reynolds' 
was unique. H. S. Smith, at that time president 
of the company, had sufficient insight t(j percei\'e 
that it was wnrked out on sound engineering 
principles, and clearly an advance upon current 
methods. So far it was only a design which had 
not been tested, but it secured the contract, and 
the com[)leted engine more than fulfilled ex- 
pectations, and liad not lieen running a month 
before Andrew Carnegie had percei\e(l the ad- 
vantages of the new construction and had gi\en 
the Allis Company a duplicate <irder, which after- 
ward resulted in fi\e million dollars worth of 
business in that class of work. 

The modern pumping engine is another de- 
veloi)ment of Mr. Reynolds' genius, both those 
for high pressure duty and the ones for handling 
a very large volume of water o\er a slight lift. 
1 he direct connection of a steam engine to a gen- 
erator upon the same shaft was first accom- 
plished by ^Ir. Reynolds, and this t_\-i)e of low- 
sjjeed, direct-coupled engine and generator is 
now the standard for economical performance 
the W(.)rl(l over, and is manufactured in units of 
ten thousand horse ])owcr, and with a weight ap- 
proaching nearly one thousand tons. 

The use of more highly developed forms of 
steam engine, with economy of steam, in fac- 
torv and power houses which hitherto had em- 
ployed more primiti\e and initially less expen- 
sive types, is one of the developments with which 
Mr. Reynolds has probably had more to do than 
any other man in the entire history of the steam 
engine. 

Amon.g Mr. Reynolds' more recent engineer- 
ing triumphs are tweh'e thousand liorse power 
engines for the IManhattan Street Railway Com- 



pany in Xew York. These engines are a novel 
design, brought out to meet the exacting condi- 
tions in a great street railway system. They are 
the largest stationar)- engines e\'er built, and 
wei,gh nearly one thousand tons each, and lieforc 
the first of these engines had been built or tested 
aljout two million dollars worth of this same size 
and type had been ordered and the orders ac- 
ceptetl, facts which show the extent of the con- 
fidence rep<ised in Mr. Reynolds and his ability 
to successfully carr_\- out a new undertaking by 
both the engineering and financial world. 

.\nother innovation is his Worcester type re- 
versing engine, a simple combination of a hori- 
zontal and a vertical en,gine, both connected to 
the same crank pin and driving the same shaft. 
By the use of this design one end of the shaft is 
left free for direct attachment to the rolls, and 
the expensive and complicated system of gears 
and shafts previ(nisly used are all done away 
with, making what is universally admitted to be 
the simplest and best rolling-mill engine ever de- 
signed. 

Mr. Reynolds has recently been engaged in 
work on new shops to handle the great business 
he has built u[). These are erected on a tract of 
one hundred acres near Milwaukee, and nearly 
three million dollars has been spent on them dur- 
ing the past year. These shops are so designed 
that one may be sure that, expand as it may, the 
business which they are designed to handle can 
never expand in a way which it will be tlifficult 
for the shop organization to follow. Each de- 
partment is so designed that it may be extended 
without interference with any others, and not 
onlv that, but without disturbing in any way the 
portion of the shop then in operation. This, in 
itself, is an engineering feat which has never be- 
fore been accomplished, and Mr. Reynolds has 
erected, as a monument to his skill, the finest, 
largest and most skillfully designed engine build- 
ing shop to be found anywhere in the world. 

Mr. Reynolds' worth is thoroughly appreci- 



36o 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



vAed aiiKing- the people who know him best. mnn are general. There is no subject of great 

Some years ago tlie University of Wisconsin human interest witli which he is unacquainted or 

conferred on liim the honorary degree of LL. D., to wliich he lias not given sympathetic support, 

and mure recentlv has given his name promi- Mis interests lia\'e been identified with those o^t 

iitnt ])l;icc on the frieze of their new engineering Alilw aiikee for a cjuarter of a century, and he is 

building, among the names of those who have to-day one i>f its solid and representative citi- 

given the world its engineering' triumphs, from zens. Companionable and warm-hearted, ad- 

the first steam engine to the wireless telegraph. miration of his masterful abilities is united with 

The tastes and talents (jf this highly gifted warmer admiration of the man. 



GEORGE SAWIN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

George Saw in is numbered among the ablest associated Jiimself with Adam Carlyle. Tliey laid 

members of the Illinois bar. He has been act- out the town of De Soto, on the Mississippi 

i\ely engaged in the practice of law in Chicago ri\er, in Bada.xe county, Wisconsin, and invested 

for many years and has acquired a truly enviable Iris all in a sawmill, icehouse, warehouse and 

position before the public and in the esteem of other improvements. The panic in 1857 ruined 

his fellow members l.^f the leg'al the \-enture and Mr. Sawin returned to Chicago, 

profession. after losing all he possesed, and took a position 

Mr. Sawin was l)orn in Bos- with the dry goods firm of Stacy & Thomas, 

ton, Massachusetts, April 14, where he remained until 1859, when the firm 

1834, and is the fourth son of went into li(iuidation. He then became clerk in 

John and Charlotte (Lash) the postofifice under Hon. Lsaac Cook, postmaster. 

Saw in, the father being of Scotch lieing in the night service, he had time to study 

and the mother of Welsh an- part of the day, which he improved in the law 

cestry. office of Hon. James P. Root, and was admitted 

George Sawin was educated at the pul.ilic to pra.ctice in lioth the state and federal courts, 

schools of Chelsea, Massachusetts, where his INlr. Sawin then formed a partner.ship with (iil- 

pareuts resided, and later at an institution bert C. Walker, who later was first governor of 

under the charge of William 1). Swan, at Virginia after the war. and Hon. James P. Root, 

Boston, and from which he graduated. At the ui;der the firm n.anie of Root, Walker & Sawin. 

age of eighteen years he entered the office of iSIr. He was afterward successivel\- in the firms of 

Samuel E. Guild and Hon. George S. Hillard, Sawin & Mattocks, Storrs, Kellog & Sawin, and 

both prominent law vers of Boston, and studied Chase, Munson & Sawin. At the opening of the 

under them two years, when, about finishing his Civil war he enlisted in the Fifty-eight Regiment, 

course, he was compelled by failing health to re- Illinois X'olunteer Infr.utry, and in December, 
liu(|.uish his studies. He settled in Chicago in 
i8t4, and in 1855 took a position in the mercan- 
tile house of W. & S. L. Mills, as credit man for 
Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. In 1856 he 




i8:)i, left Chicago' for Fort Henry, as cpiarter- 
n\aster of that regiment. Except a short time 
spent in Springfield upon the reorganization of 
his regment, he was constantly in the field, serv- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



361 



iiig a great portion of tlic lime, on llie staffs uf 
("iciierals Smith, Morniw, Dodyc and Sweeney, 
lie \\a> in the Sixteenlli L'urps ui the Anii_\- uf 
reiinessee, and was in the Red l\i\'er cxpedi- 
tinn as acting major on tiie stat^' of General Mor- 
rnw. In tlie battle of Pleasant Ilill he led a bri- 
gade and had two' horses killed under him. hie 
was with General Sherman in the "Meridan 
raid." During his wlmle service he was noted 
for bravery and received the suljriciuct of "The 
Fighting Quartermaster." 

After the war he' returned to' Chicagcj and re- 
sumed the practice of his profession and formed 
a ])artnership with Charles P. \\'ells, the firm 
being known as Sawin & Wells. This associa- 
tion continued for about nine years, when Mr. 
Wells died. Mr. Sawin then associated himself 
with D. C. Jones, and this [lartnership continued 
about four years. He then formed a partnership 



with Mr. Herman Vanderplough, the firm name 
being Sawin & Vanderplough, which arrange- 
ment was continued for five years and then dis- 
solved. Mr. Sawin has since practiced alone. 

Politically Mr. Sawin is a Democrat, and in 
religious belief an Eiiiscopalian. He is a past 
eminent commander of Knights Templar, and 
since the war has been connected with \arious 
veteran organizations and nuw IkjIcIs the posi- 
tion of colonel of the Thirly-lifth Regiment, Pli- 
nois U. V. U. 

Mr. Sawin was married, in li^SS, t(_) Miss 
Caroline L. Rush, daughter of Elijah C. Rush, 
of Janes\-i]lc. Onondaga county, New York. 

^Ir. Sawin as a citizen is everywhere known 
as possessing the highest integrity. As a lawyer 
we can jiav him no higher tribute than to> state 
that he is by all regarded as one of the leaders 
of the bar in this state. 



HON. GEORGE A. TRUDE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



The talents of George A. Trude were early 
recognized, with the result that he was placed 
upon the bench befiire he had attained his thirty- 
tliird birthday, being the youngest judge wlu> 
had ever nccupicd the su])eriiir cnurt bench in 
Coijk ci'unty. lie was appointed 
to this position by GoA'ernor Tan- 
ner toi fill the vacancy occasioned 
by the death of Judge Goggin, 
which occurred in \H(jii. 

Ciei.'rge A. Trude was born in 
Lockport, New York, |in 1866, 
and is a son of Sanuiel and Sally 
(Downs) Trude. He has lived 
in Chic.agii since his sexxnlh year, 
icipiired his cduc;itiiiii here and gradu- 
ated at the Uni(.>n College of Law, a department 
of the Northwestern University, before he was 






howc\er 



twenty-one years of age. He began the practice 
o: his iirofession in the office of his brother, A. S. 
Trude, and speedily wo-n a reputation for legal 
abality far beyond his years. He was early drawn 
ir^lo public life, in which he h;is fulfilled every 
prediction of his friends. 

In 1S92 he was appointed city .attnrney of 
Chicago to fill a vacancy. Si* well did he dis- 
charge the duties of this office that he was elected 
in the spring nf i8(;3 to the ofiice by a large ma- 
joritv, running twentv-five hundred votes ahead 
of his ticket. At this time he was but twenty-six 
years of age, and was the youngest man ever 
elected to the position. In 1893 he was again 
the candid.ate for the same office, .and tin ugh de- 
feated ran ahead of his ticket twenty-two thoai- 
sand \'otes. 

In 1896 he was nonunatetl attorney general 



362 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



of Illinois much against his wishes, and suffered 
defeat in the Repuhlican landslide, although he 
pulled about forty thousand \-otes more than the 
national ticket. In 1897 he received the nomina- 
tion for circuit judge of Cook county, and al- 
ih.ough the ticket was defeated by the old bench, 
lie {Killed five thousand votes more than his run- 
ning mate. In 1898 he was judge of the superior 
court. He retired to' private Hfe and has since 
given all his time to his practice, which is large 
and lucrati\e. He is looked upon as one of the 
most enteqjrising and popular attorneys at the 
bar. Although not a native of this state, he has 
passed almost his whole life within its boundaries, 
and here, where he is .so well known, nothing 
but good is said of him. He stands high in prn- 



fcssional circles, and is no less a fa\-orite m the 
political rank of the Democratic party. He has 
always been a thoroughly reliable, practical and 
efificient official. Mr. Trude is a member of the 
Protestant Episcopal church. He was married 
June 15. 1899. to Miss Fannie Smith, of Chi- 
cago-, daughter oi the late Judge Sidney Smith. 
They have one child, a boy one year old. 

Mr. Trude is possessed of a splendid ph_\si(jue, 
ci-urteous personality and liberal culture, and his 
friends regard him as a man of great promise. 
Agreeable and courteous among his associates, 
yet strong and forceful in his personal convic- 
tions, few among the younger lawyers of the 
state enjoy more well-merited distinction or are 
held in higher esteem. 



ARTHUR BURR PEASE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Ardnu" B. Pease, attorney at law, member Kaiser Wilhelm's University at Strassburg, Ger- 

of the firm of Pierson & Pease, and one of the many, where he pursued a si>ecial course of 

representative members of the Chicago bar, has ethics, political economy and ancient history, 
won honorable distinction by the capable man- The following year Mr. Pease came to Chi- 

ner in which he has cared for the litigation en- cago, where he matriculated in the law depart- 

trusted to his care. Liberal educational advan- ment of the Northwestern University, pursuing 

tatges have well fitted him for a professional the studies of the junior year. At this time a 
\n able advocate, well versed in the 



career. 

law, he has served as counsel in many important 
cases. His success has come to him as the re- 
ward of recognized ability. 

Arthur B. Pease was born at Shoreham. \'er- 
mont, February 25, 1866, and is a son of Lyman 
W. and Maria (Bingham) Pease. 



innnbcr of the jirofessors of the law department 
resigned, in order to form the Kent College of 
Law in Chicago. About half the students of 
the junior college followed the professors and 
continued their studies in the new college. 
Among them was Mr. Pease, who graduated 
with the first class, in 1893. from that now fa- 



He pursued his studies in the Sherman Col- uhjus law school. The same year he was ad- 

legiate Institute of Moriah. New York, and at mittcd to the bar and practiced law the succeed- 

Middleburv College, of Middlebury, Vermont, ing two years in connection with Walter M. 

graduating at the latter institution with the class Howland. In 1893 he became the senior mem- 

(if 1890, receiving the degree of A. B. Two ber of the firm of Pease & Allen, and this firm 

years later the degree of A. M. was conferred gained considerable prominence at the bar. 
upon him. He then went abroad and entered In May, 1890, Mr. Pease associated himself 




-^^^a 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 365 

witli Mr. Louis J. Pierson, under the firm name CIulx the Kenwood Country Cluh, the Chicago 

uf i'ierson & Pease, wliich pnrtnersliip still con- Bar Association and other social organizations, 

tinues. Mr. Pease has traveled extensively both in 

Mr. Pease is a nicnibci" of the Deha Kaii|)a the United States and in Europe. Politically he 

Epsilon fraternity anil belongs tO' the Booth is a Republican, but has never held office, as he 

Chapter of the Phi Delta Phi. a law fraternity. jjrcfers giving his time to his business. 
He is also a \alucd member of the Kenwood 



BENJAMIN THOMAS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Benjamin Thomas, president and general studied hard, paying for his tuition and board liy 

manager cjf the Chicago & Western Indiana R. teaching until he was pre^Mired to enter Brown 

R. Co., was born at Towanda, Bradford county, College at Schenectady, New York, as a sopho- 

Pennsylvania, October 28, 1841. His father more. Because of the expense attending college 

whose ancestry originally came from Wales, was he was unable to carry out his plans. While pre- 

born in Cixspertown, New York, in the year 1810 paring for college he studied and became a g(X)d 

and died in 1884 at Waverly, New York. His Latin scholar and mathematician and taught these 

mother, whose ancestry were from the north of branches for a h.mg time. It may be said that 

Ireland, was born at Shoreham, Verm'ont, in his studies have really never been discontinued 

1804, and died in 1873, at Newark, New Jersey, and one of his principal recreations is in reading 

His parents removed from Towanda to Newark, Latin and French works. 

New Jersey, in about the year 1854. his father Soon after leaving the Lyceum he acceptal a 

being a hat manufacturer. position as telegraph operator at Port Jarvis, 

Benjamin attended .school at Towanda until New York, with the New York & Erie railroad, 
thirteen years of age and later public schools at now the New York, Lake Erie & Western Rail- 
Newark, and later night school and was em- road Comjiany. He was soon promoted to (li\'ision 
])loyed while attending night school by the .\mcr- operator and put in charge of the Delaware di- 
ican Printing Telegraph Co., with local oflice in vision operators. In rapid succession he w-as ap- 
charge of W. H. Kna]ip, a man of considerable jiointed night train despatcher, day train des- 
prominence at that time in telegraph circles, jiatcher. chief train despatcher and trainmaster. 
Shortly after Mr. Thomas had learned to operate. In Augmst, 1873, he was made acting superin- 
ihe company was absdrbcd by the Morse Majes- tcndent of the Delaware division, the couipany 
tic Telegraph Co. (now the Western Union) nc it lieing willing to appoant so young a man with- 
and the American printing -instruments were out giving him a trird. Becoming satisfied, in De- 
al)andoucd. Mr. Thomas thus had to commence cembcr. 1873. Mr, Thomas was appointed division 
all over again, which he did and soon became a sui")€rintendent, which position he held for eight 
good Morse operator. .About this time when years. On June r, i88r. he was appointed supcr- 
■some sixteen years of age, he, realizing his edu- intendcnt of transportation of the Erie system 
cation was deficient, gave up his position and at- with headipiartcrs in New York City, and later 
tended the Lyceum at Jersey City, where he assistant general superintendent and then general 



366 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



superintendent, fillint^ the last position for four 
years. August. 1SS7, he resigned and soon 
afterward was appointed general superintendent 
of the Chicago & Atlantic Railroad Company, 
niiw the Xew NOrk, Pittsl.iurg & Cincinnati 
Railroad Comi)aii_\'. with lieadijuarters in Chica- 
go, and at the same time was elected a director 
of the Chicago & Western Indiana railroad and 
also of the Belt railroad of Chicago. September 
15, 1888, he was elected vice-president and gen- 
eral manager of the Chicago & Western Illinois 



Railroad and licit Railroad Companies, and in 
January. 1890, wjis elected president of bcjth the 
same companies, which position he still holds. 

^Ir. Thomas is in every sense a clear headed 
and capable railroad man; one of the best in the 
country. His exjierience with the property of 
which he is now connected shoAvs this. When he 
became connected with the Chicago & Western 
Illinois Roilroad it was scarcely paying operat- 
ing expenses, but under his careful management 
it is now a dividend paying road. 



JOHN HOWARD McELROY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

John 11. McElroy. member of the celebrated U. S. A., at Washington, D. C, which position 

law hrm of Coburn, ]\IcRol)crts & McElroy, was received as the result of a conipetitivc civil 

whose specialty is known as "i)alent law," was service examination. He resigned in 1S91 to 

born at Catlin, near L)an\-ille, X'ermilion county, enter the examining corps of the United States 

Illinois, January 29, 1867, and is a son of John patent olfice, which appointment was also re- 

Ji^hnston McElroy, a physician ceived by competitive civil service examination. 

of prominence, and Harriet M. While in Washington he studied law in the 

(Thompson) Mclilroy. He was Columbian Uni\ersity, receiving" the degrees of 

educated at the common antl high LL. B. in 1892 and LL. M. in 1893. H^' tl^'-"''' 

schools at Rossville, Illinois, and took special courses in the National and George- 




graduated from the high school 
in 1882; then attended Lincoln 
L'ni\-crsity, at Lincoln. Illinois. 



town Universities, having for professors such 
men cus Justices Brown, Brewer and Harlan, of 
the supreme court of the L'nited States. He re- 
until 1884, when he entered I )e signed from the patent olfice in 1896 ami came 
I'auw University at Greencastle, to Chicago, where, owing to his patent ottice ex- 
Indiana, wdicre he remained im- pcrience, he was retained as a patent expert in 



til 1888, excepting the winter of 1885-86. wlien 
he taught school at .\l\in, Vennilion county, Illi- 
nois. IJe graduated with the degree of A. B., 
also receiving the degree of ^V. M. in 1891. Dur- 
ing the winter of 1888-89 ''"^ taught in the Dan- 
ville, Illinois, high school, and began a special 
course of civil engineering at the Illinois St.ate 
University at Champaign in the fall of 1889, 



se\eral litigated cases, among others a bitterly 
ci'Utested case in which Mr. L. L. Coburn was 
opposed. (One of the results of this litig.ation 
was the formation in 1897 of a partnershi]) \vith 
Mr. Coburn., wdiich has been succeeded by the 
firm of Coburn. McRo1)erts & McElroy, which 
now represents the patent, trade-mark and copy- 
right interests of many of the largest manufac- 



w'hich he dropped in Feljruary, 1890, tO' take a tin-ing interests in Chicago, and which has clients 
clerkship in the office of the chief of engineers, distriliuted all over the United States. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



367 



Mr. ^IcElroy is by nature equipped with un- 
usual mathematical and mechanical ability, and 
that, with his extended experience with ciunpli- 
Cated machinery and ])ri)cesses in xarious acts, 
cr.ablc him tn (piicklv ()ercei\e the \'ital features 
of any inventidu, the comprehensinn of which is 
so essential to the successful preparation, attack 
or defense of patent rights. 

Mr. McEIroy is a member of the Y. M. C. 
A. since 1883; Beta Theta Pi college fraternity 
since October, 1884; is a memlier of the Hamil- 
ton Ckib since October, 1898, and Sons of Vet- 
erans since 1896, Camp No. 6, Chicago; Apollo 
Club since October, 1896. He is a Republican, 
and a memljer of the Presb\-terian church. 



Mr. McElroy was married August 31, 1899, 
to Miss Cora L. Allen, of West Chicago. Illi- 
nois, daughter of Nelson and Mary Allen, and 
an alumna of Northwestern University, of the 
class of 1888, and pronn'nent in the .\lpha Phi 
(h-eek Letter Society and the Alunnu Association 
of that university. 

Mr. McElroy is one of those men whose 
personality attracts attention in any compau)', 
being set off by his atTable and courteous 
manners and dignitied liearing. He possesses 
marked executive ability and disposes of busi- 
ness with as much dispatch as is consistent with 
obtaining the best results. He is by nature, edu- 
cation and habit admirabl_\- fitted for his calling. 



ALBERT L. COE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

The late Albert L. Cue was born at Talmage, under the firm name of T. R. Clark & Company, 
Oliio. in 1835, '^"'J was the son of the Rev. Da- the firm being Thomas R. Clark. Benjamin 
\id Lyman Coe and Polly (Hayes) Coe. He was Carpenter and Albert L. Coe. Three years later 
educated at the Painesville Academy, at Paines- Mr. Clark retired and the firm became Coe & 
ville, Ohio, and the Grand River Institute, at Carpenter, and this continued until the war of 
.\ustinburg. Ohio, leaving at the the Rebellion. In i8f)i Mr. Coe enlisted in the 
age of seventeen years to engage Fifty-first Illinois Infantry as a prix-ate, ser\-ing 
in business. His grandfather four years, or during the war. Before leavin.g 
was a noted .\bolitiomst and his camp he was commissioned second lieutenant. 
home was one of the stations Most of his scr\-ice was in the .\rm_\- of the Cuni- 
along the celebrated under,ground berland, under Generals Pope, Rosecrans, Sheri- 
railnjad. Young Coe drove dan, Thomas, Sherman and Grant. He did de- 
many a load of runaway slaves tachment service at the headquarters of the First 
up to the different points on Lake Brigade, Fourteenth .\rmy Corps, and also of 
hh-ie at the rear of .\shtabula, the Second Division of the Fourteenth Army 
securing ])assage for them to the Corps, participated in tnc capture of Island No. 
Canachan shore, the trips being made at night. 10, was at Pittsburg Landing, siege of Corinth. 
He was selected for this because of fearlessness in the campaign from Nashville to Chattano<iga. 
and go<Kl horsemanship. This ser\ice continued and the Iwttle of Missionary Ridge, taking part 
from his ninth to fourteenth year. In 1833. also in the .\tlantic campaign, being one of thoise 
when about ei.ghteen years of age he settled in who niarclicd witli Sherman to the sea; was also 
Chicago. In 1854 lie entered the coal business in tlic march from Savannah through the Caro- 




368 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



linas tn W'ashiiitjliin. and was in the strand rc- 
\ie\v at tlie close of tlie war. He received a caji- 
lain's cnmmission luit was never re.e^ularly mns • 
tered in tliat rrnik owin^' tn liie continued active 
o])erations in tlie llcld of the [•"ouriecnth Army 
C"or|)s, and was ninstertd out of service in No- 
vember, 1865, at Springfield, Illinois. Subsc- 
t|uently be Ijecame a member and helped to or- 
ganize the Illinois National Guards; from 1S73 
to 1880 served as major and (|uarterniaster on 
General .\. C. Ducat's stafT, and was on duty 
liuring the riots in this city in T877. Upon re- 
turning to ci\il life he engaged in the real estate 
business, anil in January, 1868, forme<l a i)art- 
nership with .\. 1'. Mead, under the name of 
Mead iS: ( 1 c which continued until his death. 
Mr. Coe was married in March, i8(')4, to Miss 



Charlotte E. Woodward, daughter of Joseiih 
Woodward, a prominent merchant of Mansfield, 
Connecticut. He was one of the organizers of 
the Union League Club of Chicago and was a 
member of the Loyal Legion and George II. 
riiomas Post, G. A. R. : was also an active mem- 
ber of the Citizens' League. He was a director 
in the Auditorium Association for many years; 
treasurer of the City Missionary Society for t\\e 
years and was president of the Royal Trust Com- 
pau\' for years, also president of the board of 
tiustees of the Y. M. C. A. In religion he was 
a Congregatinnalist ; in politics, a Republican. 
Mr. Coe aided in (jrganizing the Royal Trust 
Company Bank and was its president for several 
years. 

Mr. Coe died July 24, tqot. 



HON. THOMAS A. E. WEADOCK 

DETROIT, MICH. 
Hon. Thomas A. I'^. Weadock, lawyer, mayor, Ohio. Here Thomas attended school until his 



congressman, is a man whose advance in life has 
been rai)id and brilliant ; his success has In'ought 
him distinction in both iiublic and private lit'e. 
As a lawyer he is able and well read, industrious 
and indefatigable in all he undertakes, a forceful 
ath'ocate; and as a pleader before both judge and 
jur\- he has few if rmv superiors. As mayor his 
administration was marked by great executive 
ability. As congressman he served his party and 
state faithfully, winning distinguished honors 
ttnd ser\ing on imiiortaiU committees, secured 
legislation ])eculiarly desirable to his district. 
Thomas .\. ^\. Wcadock was born in Count v 



father's death, which occurred in December, 
ii^(^^. when, as he was the eldest son at home 
(his elder brother being in the army), he 
b.ad to attend to the management of the small 
farm. During the time that he was thus actively 
engaged in farming, he contiinicd a course of 
home study and reading. He managed the farm 
until his brother returned from the army in 1865, 
and then went to Cincinnati and engaged in a 
printing oflrce, but soon returned to St. Mary's 
and attended school, and for Wve years carrieil ou 
h.is own studies while teachin.g. He entered the 
law dei)artmeut of the Michigan State University 



Wexford, Ireland, January r, 1850, and is a son in 1871, and during vacations read law in Dc- 
of Lewis and Mary Cullen Weadock. The fam- troit. Graduated March, 1873, as B. .\.. and was 
ily is of Memish origin although for many .gen- admitted to the bar in Detroit. .\])ril. 1873, and 
erations it has been i)roniincnt iu County Wcx- in Ohio, in June of that year. He commenced 
ford. The parents came to' America in 1850, lo- the practice of his profession in Bay City, Mich- 
eating on a farm near the town of St. Hilarys. igan, early in 1874. bein.g for a time associated 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



37' 



with (iraciiic M. Wilsmi, tlie tirni name Ijcinjj^ 
Wilson & Weadnck. Tlie parUiLTship cnnlin- 
ued until the death of Mr. Wilson in 1877. July 
12, 1877, Mr. Weadock was appointed prosecut- 
ing' attorney for Bay county, by Judge Sanford 
'M. Green, serving until December 31, 1878. 
Later he was associated with his brother, John 
C. Weadock, which partnership has continued 
since 1883. In 1895, after the close of his con- 
gressional service, and in order to have a wider 
lield, he mo\cd to the city of Detroit, where he 
has taken part in nuich of the important litiga- 
tion of that metropolis. Among his clients are 
the New York Life Insurance Company, the 
Northwestern MiUual Life, National Salt Com- 
pany and others. 

Mr. Weadock is a strong Democrat and has 
always lieen very active in politics. He has taken 
the stump in every campaign from 1874 to 1896, 
has attended nearlv every state convention; was 
chairman of the liay City conveiUion in 1885. 
and the (irand Rapids convention in 1892. He 
was one of the four delegates at large tO' the 
Chicag'o convention in 1896. Served on the 
committee on resolutions, signing the minority 
report. He did not sujiport .Mr. l>ryon and has 
taken no part in jiolitics since that time. From 
1883 to 1885 he was mayor of Hay City and 
acted as e.x-t)tilicio' chairman of the police com- 
mission, the lil>rary trustees, etc., and after his 
term as mayor expired, he was appointed a mem- 
Ijer of the school l)o;u"d. In 1890, bv unanininus 
\()tc, he was nominated f<ir congress, being elect- 
ed by the largest majority ever given to a- con- 
gressional candidate, and being the <inc Democrat 
ever elected from tliat district without fusion 
with the Greenback party. During his term he 
was on the committee of rixers and harbors. He 
was unanimously re-nominated in 1892 and 
elected. 

In the fifty-third congress he served on the 
committee on Pacific railroads and was chairman 
of the committees on mines and mining. He was 

19 



author of the bill raising the pay (jf the men in 
the life saving service, a supporter of a larger 
navy, e\en against his party. On June 8, 1894, 
he made his most notable speech, exi>osing" the 
American Protective Association, so-called, of 
which millions of c<.)pies were circulated. He 
jirocured the passage of the joint resolution ad- 
mitting the statue of Pere Marquette to Statu- 
ar\- Hall, in the fifty-second congress, which 
failed to receive the president's signature. He 
aided in the passage of the same resolution in 
the fifty-third congress, the resolution being in- 
troduced by Hon. George H. Bricker, of Wis- 
consin, which state presented the statue. 

Mr. Weadock has always been more or less 
prominent in church affairs. He was a delegate 
to the Catholic Congress held at Baltimore in 
1889 and that held at Chicago in 1892, and is the 
author of the historical papers on "Father Rich- 
ard" of Michigan, delegate in congress, 1823 to 
1825, and the only Catholic priest ever elected to 
congress ; and 1 m Father Marquette, the mission- 
ary e-xplorer. Both of these papers were read 
bef(jre the United States Catholic Hi.storical So^ 
ciety at New York City, and attracted widespread 
and favorable criticism. They also appear in the 
historical collections of Michigan. He led the 
movement in the Ancient Order of Hibernians 
to raise fifty thousand dollars for the estal)lish- 
ment of a chair of Gaelic language and literature 
in the Catholic Cniversity of .\merica at Wash- 
ington and deli\-ercil the address there on pre- 
sentation of the fund. 

Tn 1874 Mr. Weadock was married to Miss 
Mary I'^Uen Tarsney, of Saginaw, Michigan. 
She was a member of a well known family. Her 
brothers are Hon. T. E. Tarsney, of Detroit, 
congressman of the forty-ninth and fiftieth con- 
gresses; and Thomas J. Tarsney, of Denver, 
Colorado, who has been adjutant-general of Colo- 
rado. .Ml are lawyers by profession. 

Mrs. Weadock died March 11, 1889. leaving 
six children, three sons and three daughters. His 



372 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



second wife, Nancy E.. was a daughter of Col. elation. He is also' a member of the Michigan 
Daniel S. Curtiss. of Washington, I). C, and has Historical Society and the Detroit Club. He has 
borne him one child, a son. a well selected private library, including a col- 
Mr. Wleadock has been a member of the lection on the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and many 
.\merican Bar Association since 1880, and is on rare works on Napoleon, whom he regards as 
the executive committee of the Detroit Bar Asso- the greatest man in the hist(vrv of the world. 



JOHN A. BROWN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




The young man, a brief sketch (»f wliom is 
given below, is well and favorably known to the 
bar. not onl)- in Chicago but throughout the mid- 
dle west, as a careful, painstaking, conscientious 
i.nd profound lawyer and a dignified gentleman 
whose industry, ability and per- 
sonal opinions the result of pa- 
tient investigation and delibera- 
tion, have made him a man of 
strong and lasting convictions 
antl a leader among men. 

Jt>hn A. Brown was born at 
Tannersville, New York, on June 
21, 1876. His parents were 
James Brown, a prosperous farm- 
er, who rlied when Jolm was al>out five years of 
age. and Catharine (Croggin) Brown, a daughter 
of John Cioggin. who was a well-known and 
wealthy resident of Springfield. Illinois. His 
early education was obtained from iiis mother 
and afterward from a private tutor, finishing at 
North Division high school in 1895. It was the 
desire oi the family to have him take a thorotigh 
college course, including a law course, at any 
universitv he desired. The young man readily 
olTered' to .take the law course, but when his 
family insisted on the literary course first, he re- 
fuseil the offer, saying that in that peritxl of time 
he could make a name for himself from his work 
that would take him furtTier along than the liter- 
ary course at college could do, and U* jirove he 



meant it he at once secured a position as a clerk 
in the circuit court clerk's office, where he s<x>n 
learned all connected with that office. Hoping 
the first few months would dampen his ardor and 
urge him to seek the college course that had been 
marked out for him. he was not permitted to at- 
tend any law school, but his uncle, the late Judg'e 
Goggin, with whom lie lived, examined and 
drilled him continually in the law. For several 
months, unknown to his folks, he attended the 
evening classes of the Kent College of Law. 
Judge Goggin finding this out and seeing that 
his nephew was determined to advance in spite of 
all that was jjut in his way to try and influence 
him to take the university course, secured for 
him a position witii the law firm of Lackner & 
Butz. he still ci>ntinuing his law course at Kent 
College of Law, from which he graduated, re- 
ceiving the degree LL. B., and finishing his legal 
course with a degree of LL. M. from Illinois 
College of Law, and was the second student from 
that institution to pass the bar examination, 
which he did in 1898. six months l)ef(M-e receiv- 
ing his degree. Uix>n finishing, the lK)ard of 
trustees offered him a position upon the faculty, 
which he refused. 

Ui>on retirement of state's attorney Jacob J. 
Kern a ])artncrshii) was forme<l with Klisha S. 
Bottom, and Mr. Brown associated himself 
with that firm. Shortly after the death of Mr. 
Bottum the firm was changed to Kern & Fullen, 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



373 



Mr. Fulk-ii lirning- licen l<irnieiiy United States 
district attorney of Iowa. Mr. lirdwn l)eing the 
tliird member of tlie firm. In lyoi, after tlie re- 
tirement of Mr. I-'ullen. the present firm of Kern 
iJt lirown was formed. 

Mr. I'.rouii is a l)aclicliir ;ind resides in tlie 
twenty-first ward, and although he lias never iield 
any ix:»litical office, is prominent in Democratic 
circles. In 1900 he was president of the Alumni 
Association of Illinois College of Law, and in 
1 90 1 was elected a member of the board of trus- 
tees of that institutioin. He is a member of the 
Chicago Bar Association, the Press Club of Chi- 
cago, the Lincoln Cycling Club, orator of Illi- 
nois Council. No. 615, Royal Arcanum, alumni 
memlier of Stone Chapter of Lambda Epsilon 
and one of the officers of its grand chapter. 

Mr. Rrown has been connected with many 
prominent cases since his admission to the l>ar, 
aniciug which might be mentioned the Trawley 



and Macko murder cases, the famous tenth 
ward election cases, the Tug Trust case, the 
coroner's cases for the Undertakers' Associa- 
tion, the Jorg-enson case, "Sandy" Walters case, 
the unconstitutionality of the Malaeto law. all the 
so-called bucket shop, quotation and ticker cases 
against the Central Stock and (irain l^.xcliange, 
which litigation has been continuous for the last 
few years, besides defending a number of per- 
sonal injury cases for the Chicago & Alton Rail- 
road Company. 

His tastes are domestic, and the cares of busi- 
ness laid aside, his highest delight is to share and 
enjoy the pleasures of his home. His youth and 
vigor give promise of many years of usefulness 
and satisfaction. When "life's fitful fever" shall 
be o\'er it will be proper for the memorist fittingly 
to portray a character which can lie only par- 
tially commenced by the contemporaneous biog- 
ra[>her. 



HON. FREDERICK A. WILLOUGHBY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



The subject of this sketch, the Hon. Fred- 
erick .\. Willoughby. was born in New Haven. 
Connecticut. July 24. 1S41. He was educated 
in the pulilic schools. i\ussel]'s Militar_\- Academy 
and Hopkins (irammar Scho<il. He studied law 
in \'ale University, wa5 admitted 
to the bar in Connecticut, and, 
after ])racticing a few 3'ears in 
Xew 1 la\en and Norwich, came 
til' (ialesburg. In this Illinois city, 
by reason of his culture and abil- 
it_\'. he quickly took high rank 
III t 1 Illy at the l),'ir but in educa- 
tii nal circles, lie was early elect- 
ed a member of the Ixiard of ed- 




I''ulton counties. In the ]>assage of the Harper 
High License Law. which was the ])rincipal 
measure of the session, he had a conspicuous 
part. Mr. Willi iuglil)y was the leader of the high 
license Democrats and by courtesy had charge of 
the bill in the house. W'ith him were associated 
these other high license Democrats: William 
A. Day. afterward second and third auditnr un- 
der Cle\elanil. Sidney Grear. Francis M. Great- 
house, James M. Gregg. Erneis R. E. Kim- 
bniugh. John P.. I'-elker. Andrew Welch and John 
W. Moore. Mr. Willoughby's able champion- 
ship and skillful management of the bill had 
much to do with its jiassage. It was a great ad- 
\ance o\er existing" legislation on the li(|uor traf- 



ucation and then to the city attf>rneyship. In fie and has been regarded as a model. 

1883 he wa.s elected a member of the state legis- Mr. Willouglrby was also vitallv interested 

lature from the district comprising Knox and in the imi^ortant litigation instituted by the city 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



of Galesburg against the Slieltcni Water Com- which tlie legal talents of Mr. W'illoughby have 

jiany. The effort of the city was to have the been proved to Ije of a high order. As an able 

franchise declared void because of the failure of and successful attorney he is given a high place 

Mr. Shelton to fulfill its provisions. Mr. Will- not only by the Knox cor.nty bar, with which h: 

oughby represented the city. The case was was prominently identified for many years, but 

foug'ht through the higher courts and was won also by the Cook coun'y bar. witii which his lot 



l)v the citv. This case is but one of many 



has been cast mi^ire recently. 



ARTHUR DIXON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

There is a particular interest attaching to the fully conducted for two years. The commence- 

career of Mir. Arthur Dixon, as he has so directed nient of his present industry was occasioned by 

his ability and efforts as to early gain recogni- a seeming accident. In jiaynient of a debt, he 

tion as one of the representative citizens of Chi- was obliged to take a team and wagon, and with 

cago. In private and public life he is always the this small beginning, he began a teaming busi- 

same reliable, honorable man and citizen. The ness in 1863 at No. 299 Wells street, now Fifth 

true measure of success is determined by what a avenue. From the beginning success attended 

man has accomplished, and ]\Ir. Dixon's life is the venture until now it is the largest transferring 

pre-eminently one of action and successful ac- company west of New York City. It is not al- 



complishment. 

Mr. Dixon was born in the north of Ire- 
land, County I'crmanagh. of Scotch-Irish de- 
scent. His parents were Arthur and Jane (Al- 
len) Dixon, who had four sons and a daughter, 



ways those who hope and strive who succeed, 
but to those who add to those traits of charac- 
ter, ability, earne.stness, clear perception and hon- 
orable dealing. 

Mr. Dixon is a public-spirited man and has 



of which Arthur is the only suniving son. His iieen connected with the many movements which 

father was a man of more than ordinary intelli- have contrii)ute<l to the city's welfare rmd prog- 

gence; he was a farmer, a country school teacher rcss during the past thirty years. In the spring 

and a successful country attorney. From his of 1867 he was first elected alderman from the 

jiarents Mr. Dixon has inherited many of the second ward, on the same ticket with Mayor Rice, 

sterling traits of character that have marked his From that time until April. 1891, when he vol- 

entire life. When but eighteen years of age he untarily declined to longer remain a member of 

came to the United States, attracted by the many the city council, he was re-elected with increased 

ojjportunities in the new world. He first visited majorities and sometimes without opposition, 

friends in Philadelphia, leaving there July 4, and has the honor of having served longer than 

!858, for Pittsburg, where he spent three years any other alderman of Chicago. He has been 

in the nursery business. In 1861 he came to Chi- called the "Nestor of aldermen" and "W'atch- 

cago, the most promising city in the world, and d(\g of the citv treasury." On June i. 1891. Mr. 

entered the grocery store of G. C. Cook, but very Dixon was presented by the city of Chicago with 

soon after began his business career on his own the following resolutions, richly bound and su- 

account, in a retail grocery, which he success- perblv illuminated and embossed. This volume 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



377 



is prizcil l>y liim, niul is considered uiie of his 
ricliest treasures. 

At a regular meeting of tlie city council of 
the city of Chicago', held April 27, 1891, the fol- 
lowing preainljle and resolutions endorsing the 
official actions O'f Alderman Dixon were unani- 
mously ado])ted : 

Whereas, the city council of the city of Chi- 
cago is about to lose the services of its oldest 
and hest-kniiwii member through his voluntary, 
and we hope, tempi>rary retirement from the po- 
litical field of action, 

Resolved, That we, the colleagues, some of 
many years, others of short ac(iuaintance, tender 
to Alderman Dixon on this occasion the expres- 
sion of our heartiest good wishes for his future, 
and also the expression of our appreciation of 
the loss the ccnmcil and the city sustain through 
his withdrawal from our municipal legiskitiu'e. 

Resolved, That we place on record our con- 
\iction of his great public worth, his zeal for 
h.onest and economical government, his sincere 
interest in the taxpayers, and his undoubted and 
unquestioiiecl ability in every position assigned to 
him; and further, we record the expression of 
our hope that his zeal, his earnestness and ability 
may so<:)n Ije utilized for the public in some new 
capacity; and be it further 

Resolved, That the city clerk be, and is, here- 
l)y directed to spread this preamble and the reso- 
lutions upon the records of the council and pre- 
sent to Aldennan Arthur Dixon a suitably en- 
graved copy of the same. 

Hempstead W.vsubi'kne, Mayor. 
J.wiES R. B. Van Cleave, City Clerk. 

As a nieniliL-r of the city council. Mr. Dixon 
was a recognized leader in debate, a practiced 
p;!rliamentariau, and an authoritv in the inter- 
]>retation of the ]>o\vers and ])r(i\isions of the 
city charter. He aiUocated, among other import- 
ant measures, that of the city owning its own 
gas plant, of high water pressm-e, building sewers 



by special a.ssessments, the creation of a public 
library, the annexation of the suburbs, the build- 
ing of viaducts over railway crossings, the drain- 
age law, the city's interest upon her public fund, 
and the extension of fire limits. He was chosen 
president of the conncil in 1874 and was re- 
elected to that place for six years. At \-arious 
times he served as chairman of the finance and 
other important committees. He was appointed 
by the mayor one of the executive commit- 
tee of arranganents for the World's Colum- 
bian Exposition, and was also one of the com- 
mittee that was instrumental in arran,ging and 
passing the ordinance providing for the loan 
of five million dollars for the exix>sition. In 
April, 1892, Mr. Dixon was elected a director 
of the World's Columbian Directory, and his 
services and counsels in that capacity were in- 
valuable in the prosecution of this enormoi;s en- 
terprise. He is a stanch defender of Republican 
Ijarty principles, and has been a member of city 
and county Republican centra! committees for 
more than thirty years, and has frequently served 
as chairman of the same. He was the first presi- 
dent of the Irish Republican organization in Oii- 
cagO' in 1868, and one year later was jrresident of 
the national Irish Rei)ublican convention, held in 
Chicago, and was treasurer of that organization. 
He was also elected ]>resident of the Irish Liter- 
ary Society of Chicago. 

Mr. Dixon represented tlie first senatorial dis- 
trict in the twenty-se\enth general assembly of 
Illinois, and as a member of that body had charge 
of measiu'es and rendered services of great value 
toi the city. Among the bills introduced by- him, 
which were passed by the legislature, was one pro 
\idiug for the location of the Chicago Public 
Lilirary, the drainage canal, and the one author- 
izing the mill tax and special assessment. 

He was a delegate to the national Republi- 
can convention which nominated James Garfield 
for the presidency. He is a member of several 
clubs, including the Union League, Calumet, 



378 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Hamilton and Sheridan Clubs, having been presi- 
dent of the Hamilton. He is also director in the 
Metropolitan National Bank, the lialtininre & 
Ohiij Raih-dud, (Irand drunk Kailmad. the Con- 
scilidated Stone Companv, and president of the 
Artiuu" Dixnn Transfer Company. 

In iiS()j Mr. Di.xon was married toi Miss Ann 



tten are now living. In his public and private 
life Mr. Di.xon is above reproach ; his social quali- 
ties are marked and his genial disposition has 
made him a po]nilar fa\orite. He is warm 
hearted, generous and loyal to his friends. 
Whether in the bitterness of political strife or the 
intensity of a warmly-contested debate, his cheer- 



Carson, of Pittsburg. Pennsylvania, and fourteen fulness never leaves him, and in the home circle 
children ha\e been I>orn ti> them, of wlmni thir- he is the ideal husband and father. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON KRETZINGER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



(leorge W'ashingtcm Kretzinger was burn in 
the state of Ohio.. His father. Rev. Isaac Kretz- 
inger, is a clergyman of the Uniteil Brethren de- 
nomination. Their ancestors came from (icr- 
many at an early date, settling in the state of 
Virginia. Yormg- Kretzinger 
was ambitious for an education. 
He attended the common schools 
and prepared himself for college. 
During his first college year the 
war of the Rebellion broke out, 
and \oung Kretzinger left school, 
\tilunteered as a soldier and be- 
came a member of the famous 
Black Hawk Cavalry. During 
the progress of the war Mr. 
Kretzinger was captured and i)aroled, and, while 
awriiting exchange, he again entered college and 
pursued his studies assiduously until the ex- 
change was effected, when he returned to his 
regiment and remained in the service until the 
close of the war. When discharged from the 
service he once more entered upon his studies at 
college, and graduated with high honors before 
reaching his twenty-first year. 

Mr. Kretzinger decided to enter the legal 
profession. Pie .secured the ]>osition as a teacher 
in a classical school in Keokuk. Iowa, where he 




taught for two years with success, during which 
time he i)rosecuted the study of law under the 
patronage and direction of Hon. George W. Mc- 
Crary, who afterward became secretary of war 
under President Hayes, and judge of the United 
States circuit court in Iowa. Mr. Kretzinger 
conij>!eted his law studies in the office of Henry 
Strong, and when admitted to the bar he formed 
a partnership with Judge Hannaman, of Kno.x- 
ville, Illinois, which continued until 1873. Mr. 
Kretzinger then niox'ed to Chicago, and formed 
a partnership with the late John I. Bennett: later 
on .Mbert H. Veeder became a meniber of the 
tirm. This partnership continued for some time, 
when Mr. Kretzinger and Mr. Veeder continued 
the i)ractice of law together, but Mr. Kretzinger 
finally withdrew from the firm for the purpose of 
asstKiating his brother, Joseph T. Kretzinger, 
with him in the practice of law. 

Mr. Kretzinger has made corporation and 
railroad law his specialty, and he has been identi- 
fied with nuich important litigation invoKing 
questions of this kind. In 1S77 he accepted the 
general solicitorship of the Chicago & Iowa Rail- 
road, also of the Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern 
Railroad and of the Chicago & Paducah. The 
Chicago & Iowa Railway ComiKUiy, at the time 
Mr. Kretzinger lx;came its' general solicitor, was 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



379 



deeply invoKed in difficulties which were re- 
garded as Ijeyuiul redress, but Mr. Kretzin^er's 
masterly insight into* corporation law enaljled 
him to place the rights (if his clients up<in lirni 
ground, and it was able to redeem itself from 
hopeless l)ankruptcy and place its atTairs upnn a 
sound fountlatioii. 

Mr. Kretzinger is an able achocate. His ora- 
tory is Ixrth ct^nvincing and elocjuent. and while 
intensely logical and terse, his speeches are all 
illumined by the nnages of a brilliant imagina- 
tion. M'r. Kretzinger is in the prime <>f life, is 
a splendid si)ecimen of physical manhoo<I and has 
the respect of a large and widening circle of 
friends. 

At present he is general counsel of the Mo- 
non Railroad, of the Diamond Joe line of steam- 
ers, of the Hot Springs Railway Company and 



the Santa Fe, Prescott & Phoenix Railway Com- 
pany, of Arizona. This is an important road, 
being the only north and south road in that terri- 
t<jry. Mr. Kretzing'er incorporated this company 
and is now, and lias been from the l)eginning, 
one of its directors. 

George \V. Kretzinger was married .\ugust 
2ij. 1878, to Miss Clara J. Wilson, of Rock 
Island, Illinois. They have one son, George Wil- 
son, and a daughter, Clara Jusephine. 

Mr. and Mrs. Kretzinger have a delightful 
home in the suburb of Austin, surmundcd by 
large and beautifully kept grounds. 

Mrs. Kretzing'er is a graduate of Vassar Col- 
lege, and a woman of rare intelligence. She has 
been a meml>er of the Austin Woman's Club 
since its organization, and for tw(j terms was its 
president. 



JOHN C. KING 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



John C. King, a talented and successful law- 
yer, formerly seninr meml>er of the law firm of 
King & Gross, with offices at No. 89 East Wash- 
ington street, Chicago, was educated in Cincin- 



four years has maintained a foremost place in the 
profession in that city. From 1880 imtil 1895 he 
was largely engaged in the practice of criminal 
law. He never loses sight of a single point that 



nati, Ohio, completing his literary education \n will advance the interests of his clients and at 

St. Mary College in 1871. Af- the same time give to each its due importance, 

ter the completion of his collegi- never failing to^ keep in the foreground the main 

tate course he engaged in teach- point at issue and that upon which the decision 

ing school in Cincinnati for one of a case finally turns. He has a splendid ora- 

year. and during that time alt- torical power, is earnest, elo(|uent. for>.eful and 

tended lectures at the Cnion Col- logical, and while touching the emotions of his 

lege of Law, ex-Governor Hoad- hearers, he never fails to convince their intellects 

ley being one of the instructors at the same time. 
of the institution. Mr. King Since 1895 he has practically retired from 




was admitted to the bar at Cin- 
cnmati in 1873, and for ti\-e years thereafter was 
a member of the law firm of Morrow & King. 
In 1878 Mr. King came to Chicago, was ad- 
mitted to the bar of C<-H»k cotuitv and fi>r twent\- 



the practice of criminal law and gives his atten- 
tion t(» ci\il litigation. He has a bro.ul and com- 
])rehensive knowledge of all departments of 
jurisprudence, and in the \arious branches of 
civil law has also won stmic notable \'ictories 



38o 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



wliicli entitle liiiii to rank among the distin- the tinn name of King & Gross, a conneetion 

guished men who devote their energies to such tliat continued until May i. 1901, since which he 

practice. It was in i.Syi that !Mr. King formed has practiced alone, being ably assisted by his son, 

a partnership with Mr. Alfred H. Gross, under \V|. J. King, who is a young lawyer of ability. 



erected a number of buildings in Neillsville, in- 
cluding two (if the finest brick blocks in that place. 
He put in electric lights at his own expense, and 
was instrumental in securing the telegraph and 
telei)hone ser\ice for the town. He built char- 
coal kilns and arranged for the United States 
signal service reports, and in many other enter- 



JAMES LESLIE GATES 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 

lames L. Gates, of Milwaukee, is one of the out, but lea\ing it strong financially and i^nie of 

best known Ijusiness men in the slate of Wis- the foremost banks of its kind in the state. The 

cousin, where his extensive i_iperations have been largest luercantile firm in Xeillsville is Gates, 

carrieil on for vears. His dominent (jualities are Stanard & Companx'. and of this firm Mr. Gates 

energy, decision, action, which show clearly in was the founder and is the senior partner. He 
all his ojjerations and business affairs. His suc- 
cess is the best evidence of his character and 
ability. 

Mr. Gates was born in the .\dironilack moun- 
tains in Xew York state, IJeceiuber 22. 1850, 
and is a son of Daniel and Jane ( Hewett) Gates, 
who trace their ancestry in a direct line to Gen- 
eral Gates of Keyolutionary fame. Daniel Gates prises was always the chief promoter. Mr. Gates 
died in 1885, and Mrs. Gates, still living, is now is interested in the Lake Superior country, where 
seventy-three years of age. he owns many acres of timber and mineral lands. 

James L. Gates' educational advantages were He was one of the promoers to secure from the 

limited, as his entire schooling covered a period L^nited States and Canadian governments the 

of only three months. The great school of ex- franchises to buiUl the railroad through Sault 

perience and .self-education did nuich for him. Ste. Marie and was a director of the company 

however, and his knowledge of practical affairs organized for that purpose. 

is unquestioned. In 1853 his parents moved to His chief interess, however, are in pine lands. 

Xeillsville, Wisconsin, and there he began his He never was interested in saw mills, but was a 

battle of life. When but sixteen years of age heavy operator in logs. In 1882-1883. Gates & 

he w as foreman ( A a logging camp on Black river. HeAvett banked forty-one million feet of logs, and 

Me was later instrumental in the building of the the following season twenty million feet, while 

railroad from Merrillon to Xeillsville. now a part in 1885 he alone banked thirty-six million feet, an 

of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad amount exceeded by few. His present holdings 

Company. ^\v. Ciatcs surveyed the line himself in pine lands in Wisconsin and Florida, where he 

and at his own expense. is hea\ily interested, exceed seven hundred thou- 

In 1879 he started a bank at Xeillsville and sand acres. Mr. Gates is a large property owner 

(ipcrated it successfully for three years and sold in Milwaukee and other places. He is a strong 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



383 



writer on public affairs and lias contributed many 
articles of note on the coinage of silver and tar- 
iiif matters. 

Politically he is a Republican, but not an of- 
fice holder or seeker, his business affairs occupy- 
ing all his time and attention. He is a member 
of the Congregational church. Mr. Gates pos- 
sesses many noble traits of character, and as a 
citizen, is everywhere known as possessing the 
hig'hest integrity. He is regai'do! as a man nf 
affairs, while his courteous, affable manner ren- 
ders him a general favorite among his business 
associates as well as among his friends. 

Mr. Gates has been twice married. His first 



wife was Miss Lydia Eyerly, of Xeillsville, wh<i 
died April 11, 1884, leaving two children, Rob- 
ert L. and Edith Gates. 

On July 2, 1885, he married Aliss Katherine 
Meade. They have two children, Harry and 
Helen Gates. Mrs. Gates' American ancestors 
came to America on the Mlayflower, and she has 
in her possession a Bible that was brought over 
on that voyage. This xaluable relic was printed 
in 1611 ami was on exhibition at the World's 
Columbian Exposition held in Chicago- in 1893. 

Mr. Gates has resided in Milwaukee since 
188C, where he has a beautiful home in Prospect 
avenue. 



HENRY CHARLES LYTTON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Henry Charles L\tton, merchant, is nne nf 
the representative business men of Chicago. He 
was born in New York city July 13, 1846, of 
English parents. He attended public school and 
was graduated when fourteen years of age at the 
Eree Academy ( College of the city of New 
York), and a year later started on his business 
career. After spending nine months in a law 
office he became entry clerk in a wholesale dry- 
goods house, afterwards being bookkeeper. Then 
followed three years spent in St. Louis, Missouri, 
with a large retail house, when he returned to 
New York, where he remained until twenty-one 
years of age. He then spent ten years in partner- 
.ship with his brother in a retail business in Mich- 
igan, and again returned to New York, where 
for three _\-ears he was traveling salesman for a 
large New \'ork whf)lesale concern. He then 
accepted a partnership and sole management of 
a large retail business in Indianapolis. In 1887 
he came to Chicago and started a business, nam- 
ing it "The Hub," which has since become one 
of the leading houses of Chicago and is known 
throughout the west. It is devoted entirely to 



the sale of men's and bo\'s' attire. Air. Lytton's 
business ability, progressive methods and sterling 
worth have made him a commanding figure in the 
commercial world. Mr. Lytton is quite a philan- 
thropist in his way. Every summer he distributes 
among the poor large quantities of ice and each 
winter large quantities of coal. He was the first 
man who offered to subscribe to the World's 
Columbian Exposition, taking a large block of 
stock. Ml". Lvtton is a member of the Union 
League, Washington Park, Hamilton and many 
other Chicago Clubs, also of the National Arts, 
and Lotus Clubs of New York city. He is vice- 
president of the bureau of justice and a life mem- 
ber of the Chicago Art Institute and the Chicago 
Historical Society. 

He married at the age of twenty-five a South 
Carolina lady and they have four children. His 
only daughter was married to a famous Swiss 
artist, August Reuzeges, who has executed well- 
known jiortrails of many celebrities, among 
whom are the P<ipe and .several of the celebrities 
of Europe, also of President McKinley and Vice- 
President Hobart. 



384 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



GEORGE MILLS ROGERS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




GeurjiiilC Mills k<ii;'crs, who has attained eiiii- 
ncuce in law and pulitics while yet in the prime 
of manhood, and who is reganled by competent 
judges ()f the qualities of men as being yet far 
from the height of his possibilities, was born at 
Glasgow, Kentucky. April ](>. 
1854. He is an inheritor of 
political and legal skill, his fa- 
ther. John Gorin Rogers, having 
twice been honored by a place in 
the electoral college, besitles hav- 
ing acted as a prominent mem- 
ber of the convention that nomi- 
nated Fillmore to the presidency. 
Afterward the elder Rogers held 
the high position of judge and 
chief justice of the circuit court 6f Cook county. 
His mother's father was the Hon. B. Mills 
Crenshaw, formerly chief justice of Kentucky. 
George Mills Rogers came with his parents 
to Chicago in 1858, when he was Ijarely four 
years of age. The present metropolis of the great 
nortliwest was then an ambitious but crude city 
of one hundred thousand inhabitants. He re- 
ceived a iireliminary education in the public 
schools of tliis citv. passed thence toi the old Uni- 
\ ersity of Chicago, and finally entered as a stu- 
dent of Yale College, from which he graduated 
in the class of 1876. After this thorough aca- 
demic training he took a law course in the Chi- 
cago Union College of Law, and graduated with 
honor, lint while mastering the theory of law 
in college he had been studying the details of 
practice in tlie office of Crawford & McConnell. 
Admitted to the bar in T878, Mr. Rogers entered 
into partncrsliip with one of his former precept- 
ors, Samuel I'. McC<innell. who afterward 
earned the distinction of circuit judge. The 
partnership endurctl luitil Mr. Rogers was ap- 



pointcil assistant city attorney, a position for 
which lie has demonsltrated his titness by the 
eminent service he performed as attorney for the 
Citizens' Association, a volunteer organization 
of the reforming and progressive elements of the 
municipality. As attorney for the Citizens' As- 
sociation Mr. Rogers assisted in preparing and 
promoting the passage of the original reform 
city election law, and was the author of the first 
primary election law that was enacted, and which 
is generally sjxiken of as the "Crawford primary 
bill." doubtless because of its introduction to the 
genera! assembly by Senator Crawford. In 1880 
Mr. Rogers was honored by a nomination as a 
candidate for state senate and demonstrated the 
intluence of his character for integrity and abil- 
itv In' reducing the usual Reiniblican- majority of 
two thousand to less than eight hundred. For 
several years he acted as vice-president of the 
Cook county Democracv, but l)€coming weary of 
Ids fruitless efifofts to effect reforms in party 
metho<ls, he allied himself with the eminent 
Democrats who founded the Iroipiois Club, 
which was organized for effect upon national 
politics, leaving local issues to local politicians. 
He was elected vice-president of this club. Eariy 
k\ 1^6 Mr. R<igrrs was appointed city prose- 
cuting attorney, but resigned the office in April 
(d' the next year in order to travel with his wife, 
whose health demanded a change of air and 
scener\-. On his return, in Nt)vember, 1897. '"^ 
was apix>inted assistant United States district at- 
torney. He resigned this position in March, 
1888, and re-engaged in private practice. In 
1889 he was apix)inted a master in chancery of 
the circuit court of Cook county. This office he 
still holds. In 1893 Mr. Rogers as named as 
one of the four Democrats nominated on a non- 
partisan judicial ticket by the lawyers of Cook 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



3S5 



county, and thuuyii the ticket laileil ta secure 
tlie cndtii'seinent uf the Deniucratic ci invention, 
wliicli refused to endorse a ticket upmi which 
four iirst-ckiss Democrats were associateil with 
an c(|ual nunilocr of tirst-chiss Repubhcan kiw- 
_\ers. \ct ;'.t the bar election he recei\'ed tiie high- 
est nunilier of \otes cast for any of tlie non- 
partisan candiikitcs. Since then Mr. Rogers has 
pursued tile e\en tenor of liis way as a liigiily suc- 
cessful practitioner. He is now at tlie head of a 
firm of wliicli State Senator Joseph P. Malioney 
is the junior member. Mr. Rogers is a highly in- 
fluential member of the Chicago Bar Association ; 
he is a member of the board of managers and is 



secretary of the association. He is a member (jf 
the Iroquois, University, Saildle and Cycle, 
Edgewater Golf, and Law Clubs; is eminent in 
the I. O. O. P., and is now serving bis fourth 
term as president of the order of Phi Delta Phi, 
an organi/catioii with chapters in all the chief 
law colleges of the United States and Canada. 
Mr. Rogers was married June 3, 1884, to 
Miss Philippa Hone Anton, of New York City. 
The family of Antlion has given many celebrated 
men to the learned professions, one of whom is 
rememl>ere<l as a professor in Columbia College, 
and others standing high as lawyers and clergy- 
men. 



ALBERT CRANE BARNES 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



Albert C. Barnes, first assistant state's attor- 
ney, is distinctively a great trial law_\er, being 
both forceful and convincing Ijefore judge and 
jury, and possessing all the essential qualifica- 
tions of the able advocate. 

During the perio<l he has 
served as assistant state's attor- 
ney he has made a reputation 
throughout the state, as one of 
the most earnest and successful 
lawyers e\'er appointed to this po- 
sition. He is a man of untiring- 
industry possessing the power of 
keen analysis, close reasoning and 
precision in the prei>aratioin O'f 
cases, and no lawver is beard with greater ex- 
pectation or interest at times of noted trials. He 
is an elo(juent speaker, and, when occasion re- 
(piircs, a master in retort and sarcasm, 

.\lbert C. B.arnes was born at .Xddison. Ver- 
mont, and is a son of .\sabel ;ni(l l-".llen C r;uie 
I'arnes, whose ancestors were .among' the e;niy 
New luigland colonists. He wa,s educated at the 




University of Vermont, graduating in 1876 with 
the degree of A. B. and at the Albany Law 
School, in Albany, New York, graduating in 
1877 with the degree of LL. B., being admitted 
to the New York state bar the same year. After 
further study in law offices in Keeseville and 
Piattsburg New York, he went toi W'ashington, 
D. C, and through a civil service e.\amination 
was appointed to a position in the Uniteil States 
General Land Office, which he held from 1879 
to 1883, when, desiring to utilize his experience, 
he went to tlie then new territory of North Da- 
kota. He was appointed by its governor one 
of the commissioners to organize Bottineau 
County, and in 1884 was elected its first district 
attorney, l>ut in 1885. seeking a more promis- 
ing field for the i)ractice of his pnd'ession, he 
came to Chicago and has since engaged in the 
active ])ractice of law. 

He has served as assistant state's attorney 
under Mr. Denecn's administration since iS</) 
up to the present time, ;uid in that period has 
successfullv prosecuted many ot the nK>st noted 



386 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



criminal cases of recent years. Mr. Barnes is a 
Republican, usually attends the Presbyterian 
churcli. is a tliirty-seconil-cle,q;rec Mason, a mem- 
ber of tlie liamilton Club, the Illinois Socielv. 
Sons of the Rcvulutinn. i;f which be was i)resi- 
(lent for the _\ear lyoi. 



Mr. P.arnes is a man of great natural ability, 
and highly educated. Close study, hard work 
and the careful discipline of a strong mind have 

been the great facturs of his success. 

lie was married in 1S95 to Mrs. Jessie 
Welles (Iriswalil. nf L'hicago, Illinois. 



ALONZO CLARK MATHER 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



Alonzo Clark Mather, president nf the Ma- there are few lo-day who can trace their tlescent 
ther Humane Stock Transportation Company, is from the Mathers of colonial fame. 



a (-lirect descendrmt of the .Mather family \vhicli 
held such distinguished place for nearly one hun- 
dred years in the early history of New England. 
'J'he first of that name to come to this country 
was one Richard Mlather, who ;irri\-ed in Massa- 
chusetts. August 17, 1635. from Toxteth Park, 
near LiveriK)ol, Englantl, and who, together with 



.\lonzo Clark Mather is a son of William and 
Mary Ann (Buell) Mather, of Fairfield, Herki- 
mer coamty. New York, where he was lx>rn. His 
education was obtained in the Fairfield Prepara- 
tory School, an institution originally founded by 
his grandfather. Moses .M.ather, as a medical col- 
lege, and which had a prosperous career as such 



his son. Increase, and grandson. Cotton, may be from i<So2 to i8_'3. His father, who. for nearly 



named as those best known of this name in ccvlon- 
ial days. C\>tton Mather, who was distinguished 
for his obser\ance in a single year of more than 
sixty days of fasting and prayer, was almost the 
last, and at the same time, perhaps, the most re- 



fort\- years, was known as one of the foremost 
writers and lecturers on natural sciences and 
chemistry, was also identified with this institu- 
tion, serving as its jjresident for nearly a (|uarter 
of a century. Our M'r. Mather entered this 



u'arkable of all the great Puritan divines. .\n school in i860 and remained there until i8<')4, 

editorial in the Boston Herald, of recent date, with the exce])tion i)f one year, during which time 

speaking of the Mather family in Boston in the he tilled a position at S]>rini^'fiel(l. Massachusetts. 

e;'.rly days, says of them. "The Mathers were two> His course of study completetl. he went tO' Utica, 

centuries ago so prominent in New England that New York, nni\ for ,1 peril nl of about a year was 

the snapping of the little finger of one of tliem emp'loyed in the mercantile business. His incli- 

co.ukl bring abotit a revolution." and oi Cotton nations were strong toward this line of work, and 

Mather, "With his big wig, with his beaming although his father wished to make a professiou.al 

eyes, with his great yet coiuely face and scholarly iran of him, he started out in business for him- 

dignity of bearing as he walked about the streets self at the age of nineteen, and lieean the mould- 

of lioston, he had at least the port and bearing ing of his own fortunes at Little Falls, New 

of a nobleman, and it is in this aspect that he is ^'ork. Ambitious, however, for a larger field, he 

known and honored to-day." With the genera- came west to Quincy. Illinois, a year later, but 

turn following Cotton Mather the name died out his amliition to ojierate on a still more extensive 

almost completely, as has Ijeen the case with so scale led him to establish himself in Chicago in 

many other family names then prominent; and 1875. Here he engaged in the wholesale men's 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



389 



furnisliing business in Madison street, and for 
twenty years was numbered among tlie siKcessful 
merchants of the city of Chicago. 

'Mr. Matlier"s Stock Car Company is a matter 
of recent growth, and it is interesting t(j know 
how he became engaged in it. In 1880, wiiile 
making a trip to New York for the purpose, of 
buying goods, an accident caused the sleeping car 
in which Mr. Mather was a passenger to be side- 
tiacked several hours l>eside a stock train. He 
was kept awake all night by the moans of the 
cattle, and in the morning he saw in the car oppo- 
site that there were no less than five dead bull- 
ocks, and others wounded, caused by their rest- 
less and famished condition. This suggested to 
Mr. Mather the idea i)f building a stock car in 
which cattle could receive such attentioii while in 
transit as would insure their being delivered at 
the end of their journey in a healthful condition. 
He sketched a design of such a car, had it pat- 
ented, and used every effort to* get the railroads 
ii;terested in it; but without avail. At last, how- 
ever, he had a car built and equipped at his own 
expense, and in 1881 it was sent on its fir.st trij), 
filled with cattle, from Chicago tO' New York. 
The trip, which was favorable in every respect, 
attracted much attention from the railroads, the 
shippers and the public generally, and in recog- 
nition of his successful efforts to improve the con- 
dition under which the cattle were transjxirted, 
the American Humane Association awarded Mr. 
Mather a gold medal of beautiful design in 1883, 
which he justly prizes alcove the many which have 
since come to him. 

Being engaged in other business at the time, 
Mr. Mather was unable U> give his stock car busi- 
ness the attention it deserved. Other companies 
sprang up, however, which serioiisly threatened 
his pro.s])ects. Consequently he began to pay 
more attention to the matter, with the result that 
in 1895 he sold out his mercantile business and 
de\-oted his whole time to promoting the interests 



o-f what has come to be known as the Mather 
Sto.ck Car Comi)any. 

To' gi\'e an idea of the extent and magnitude 
of this business, it may 1>e said that at present 
there are from one to three trains a <lav carrying 
nothing but the Mather car, despatched from Chi- 
cago to New York. Besides these, the company 
owns about three thousand cars, operated over 
different roads throughout this country and in 
Canada, with complete succe.sis. Mr. Mather is 
also interested along other lines, one of whicli 
is that of developing the power of Niagara river 
at the city oi Buffalo proper. Believing that his 
idea possesses many advantages over the method 
of obtaining po'wer at the falls and its subse- 
quent transmission to Buffalo' at considerable loss, 
Mr. Mather soiue years ago purchased land on 
both sides of the river within the city limits of 
Buffalo, and in 1895 ^ '"" ^^''^ introduced in the 
New Yijrk legislature seeking tO' grant him the 
])ri\ilege of putting his idea into operation. The 
bill, which passed the lower house by about 
eighty-five votes out of one hundred and twenty, 
and the senate by about thirty-five out of fifty, 
ar.d which was appro\-ed by the mayor and com- 
mon council of Buffalo, was vetoed at the last 
moment by Go\-ernor Morton. 

Mr. Mather is of an inventive turn of 
mind, and has patented many inventions which 
are to-dav in general use, among them being the 
Mather Automatic Car Coupler, with which his 
own cars are equipped and which is extensively 
used by various railroads. He is also the in- 
ventor of a glove fastaier, of which over a million 
pairs have been sold and are still in universal use. 
Some vears ago Mr. Mather designed aiid pat- 
ented a plan for operating the boats on the Erie 
Canal with electricity, and using the towpath for 
the railbed of an electric train service between 
Buft'al<i and .\lbany. This, he believes, is one of 
the ]iossibiIities of the future. He has alst> de- 
voted much thought and .study tending toward 



390 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



devel(>i)ing- the great tidal and wave ]xnvers df i>ort hnth tinancially and nKirally. although lie is 
tlie sea into eomniercial utility. nut much of a clubman, preferring to siK-nd his 
Mr. Mather is a member of the Union League leisure hours in study and working' out his vari- 
C lub, and was also one of the first meml)ers of the ous inventions. He is pos.sessed of a very pleas- 
First Regiment. Illinois National Guard, when ing personality, genial manners and true cnur- 
they had tlieir armory on Lake street, over a store, tesy, which ha\e endeared him to his manv 
and he still endeavors to give tlieiu his hearty sup- friends. 



JOHN A KING 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




In the financial circles of Chicago the name 
of John A. King stands high, and in which he 
is ranked as one of the ablest financiers. He is 
a thorough typical American of that class that 
have been so prominent in the upbuilding- of the 
g'reat west, and is president of 
fthe Fort Dearl>orn National 
ll.'uik. I'or al)out forty years he 
has been a representative busi- 
ness man and citizen of Chicag'o, 
and has been completely identi- 
fied with all that is to the best 
interests of the city, and an hon- 
est worker at all times for its 
advancement and improvement. 
l*"or m;uiy years he was counted among the 
Iciding wholes.ale merchants (vf the great west- 
ern metroi>olis, and achieved a re|)utation for 
ability, integrity, business foresight and sagacity 
in the management of all affairs. Like so many 
of .\merica"s famous men, Mr. King comes of 
good (rid colonial stock on both sides. The King 
f,imil\- was originally from I''rance, while the 
liadleys were of English extraction. r>oth 
iiranches were early settlers of New England. 
John .\. King's father, W'illiam M. King, was 
boru in the old town of Salisbury, Connecficnt, 
and sjX!nt his early years in the Puritan land of 
sturdy habits. In 1821 be removed to the town 



oi DeW'itt, Ouond.'igo coimtw New York, where 
he boughl a farm and al.so engaged in the manu- 
facture of lime and plaster. In 1829 he married 
Hannah Hadley, daughter of Hiram Hadley. of 
Middleburg, Vermont, descendant of another dis- 
ting-uished New Englan<l family. John v\. King 
was iKirn on his father's farm in the town of De- 
W'itt, Onondago county. New York, in 1834. 
He was but si.x years oi age at the time of his 
father's death, and he passed from the sports and 
frolics of early boyhood to' the stern realities of 
life at a very early age, for in 1843, when he was 
but nine years old. the family necessities obliged 
him to seek em)>loynient in order to assist in its 
supixirt. In that year he went to work for .\nsel 
Murray, of S\'racuse. and \\;is employed in drau- 
ir.g pump logs. During the winter months he 
aitcnded the local schotils and stro\-e eaiMicstly to 
actpiire an education. For several years he con- 
tinued to work at teaming in the summer and 
attending school in the winter. .\t the age of 
fifteen he entered the employment of a grocery 
firm, D. 1!. Pirickford & Son. and was soon recog- 
nized as a \-aluable employee. From Brickford's 
he went to the Mechanics' Bank of Syracu.se as 
messenger, remaining' with this bank for several 
years, and rising through various grades to the 
posilioii of teller. On leaving the bank Mr. 
King engaged in the mercantile business at 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



391 



Toledo, Ohio, meeting with consideralile suc- 
cess. But after two years lie sold out and made 
a trip through Kentucl<y, Tennessee and Mis- 
souri, seeking a suital>le opportunity for tlie em- 
l)I<iyment o^f his business al)ihty and untiring en- 
ergy. In 1 86 1, not finding tlie opening he 
sought, lie came to Chicago. In a short time 
after arriving here be secured employment with 
the leading distilling firm of S. M. Nickerson & 
Company as lx>okkeeper, and remained with that 
house for some years, later becoming trefisurer of 
the corporation in which it was finally merged. 
Mr. Nickerson. the head of this firm, is the well- 
kn<iwn ex-president of the First National Bank 
of Chicago. 

In March, 1867, M^r. King went into the 
wholesale drug business with two partners. Two 
years later lie Ixxight out the interest of one, and 
sometime afterward, that of the other, contin- 
uing the business as sole proprietor. The great 
fire of October 9. 1871, swq>t away his store 
with thousands of others. Mr. King did not 
know of the fire until six o'clock Monday morn- 
ing, when it was still Ijurniiig furiously in the 
heart of the city. He had a team hitched u\) and 
at once started out to see what could be done, 
and what he accompli.shed is not only strikingly 
characteristic of the man but afl'i>rds a clew to 
the secret of the remarkable success which has 
always attended his business \-entures. Meeting 
on the street a man who' was in his employ, he 
told him to instruct all other employes he could 
find to go to his partner's house, which was 
nearer than his own. On the way to his store, 
then a heap of ruins, he met a director of the 
b;;nk with which he did business and asked him 
for a loan of money, enough to' buy a new stock 
of gocxls. Mr. S. M. Nickerson, the director in 
question, told him he was surely the first ai>pli- 
cant. He went to his ]>artner's house about eight 
o'clock and s<«in the men in his employ began to 
come in. as he had ordered. Mr. King asked his 



partner if lie had gotten a store, and he .said. 
"No, there are no stores." Mr. King insisted 
that there were stores to be had and that he was 
goiing to haye one. His partner remonstrated, 
saying. "We will get no insurance: the insurance 
companies will all stop." "It matters not," said 
Mr. King, "my wife and children must liye." In 
an hour he had a store on West Lake street. Be- 
fore noon his books were in the store and he 
was at work fitting it up for business. Two 
weeks from that day his men were selling goods 
in all the western states. He was the only whole- 
sale druggist among those burned out that got a 
store. Mr. King carried on the liusiness success- 
fully until January, 1888, when he sold ont to 
Morrison, Plummer & Company, and the finn of , 
John A. King & Company went out of existence. 

In the fall of 1888 Mr. King and John J. 
McGrath Ixmght a controlling interest in the Mc- 
Ayoy Brewing Compan_\', and in the following 
March sold the property to an English syndicate 
for one million four hundred thousand dollars. 
Mr. King's remarkable business ability was con- 
spicuously shown in carrying out this big 
transaction to a successful and profitable con- 
clusion. 

In April, 1889, a committee of directors of 
the Fort Dearl>orn National Bank waited on Mir. 
King and asked him to take charge of its affairs. 
The bank was then two. years old and had not 
made a success. He was not eyen a stockholder 
in the l>ank when asked to become its presiident. 
On April 22. 1889, he took charge of the insti- 
tution, made a careful examination and assessed 
the stockholders to an amount sufhciait to re- 
store its impaired capital and place the bank rm 
its feet. Under his management the bank has 
grown and pros])€red. 

He is a man of strong oi)inions and has in the 
highest degree the courage of his con\ictions. 
He has long been recognized as one of the leading 
Democrats of the citv. a liberal contributor to tl.^ 



392 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



supix>rt of the party's policies and candidates 
and a power in its councils. Like all financiers 
of liiis standing, however, he is a stanch supixirter 
of the gold standard. He has often heen solic- 
ited to accept ix>litical office, hut with one ex- 
ception he has always declineil. In 1889 he ac- 
cepted the Dem<x-ratic nomination for trustee of 
the sanitary- Ixianl and was elected in Decemher 
oi that year. The great drainage canal was 
justly regarded as an enleriirise of supreme im- 
piirtance to the health and future welfare of the 
city. and. as the head of the Democratic ticket. 
Mr. King hojK'd to lx> instrumental in carrying 
this mighty wt>rk to a successful conclusion. A 
citizen.s" movement, however, elected six out of 
nine trustees, leaving the Dcnmcratic members a 
helpless minnrity of three. The majority proved 
incapal)le and the affairs of the hoard l>ecame 



chaotic. Mr. King, finding himself powerless in 
this situation, resigned in jul\. i8yi. Other 
resignations followed, and Mr. King took an act- 
ive interest in the camjxiign of the fall of that 
year, hy which the board was reorganizeil on a 
non-partisan basis and the great work success- 
fully inaugurated. 

Mr. King is a charter member of the Illinois 
Club and is also a meml)er of the Inxpiois Club 
and I'nion League Club. He is a Mason of high 
degree and prominent among the Kmights Tem- 
plar for many years. iL". King has resided for 
nuuiy years on the west side in Chicago, having 
a beautiful home on Ashland Boulevard, where 
he (lis|>enses an old-fasbii>ned hospitality. 

Mr. King was united in marriage in August. 
1857. to M'iss Julia L. Stevens, tlaughter of O. S. 
Stevens, of Svracuse. New York. 



WILLIAM ARTHUR ALEXANDER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



William A. Alex.-mder. senior member of the 
widely-known insurance firm of W. A. Alexan- 
der & Co., of Chicago, as horn at Corinth, Mis- 
sissippi, in 1857, and is a son of Col. James 
Madison and Elizabeth King (McCord) Alex- 
ander. 

He was educated at Edgar county. Illinois. 
Normal School, and at the Tuscolum Ci>llege in 
Temiessee. He there lived on a farm until 
twentv-three years of age. when be came to Chi- 
cago and entered the insurance tield. launching 
the first employers, elevator and general liability 
insurance policies for an American company and 
er.gaged in the insurance business under the firm 
name of \\'. A. Alexander & Company. 

Mr. Alexander is trustee for the estate of 
George A. Fuller, and connected with the build- 



ing corporation of George A. Fuller Company, 
one of the largest contracting and building lirms 
in the United States. 

He has served in the Illinois state militia: is 
a member of the Sheridan Road Association; 
was connected with the World's Fair; and a 
member of the Exmoor Country Club. Highland 
Park, Illinois. He is a thirty-second degree Ma- 
son, having taken all the degrees, including 
Knights Templar. Consistory, thirty-seconcl de- 
gree, and Knights of Pythias. 

Mr. Alexander has traveled extensively in 
Europe and the continent and throughout the 
United States. In religious matters he is a 
Presbyterian, and politically he is a Republican. 

He was married in December, 1894. to Miss 
Maud Julia Greene, daughter of M. T. Greene. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



395 



HENRY L PALMER 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 



Though fiiur-score and more years have 
[Kissed since the subject of this sketch first saw 
tlie Hglit 111' (hiy, he stiH retains aU of his faculties 
and besides lieing' one of ttie most active business 
men, presiding" over the aiifairs of one of tlie 
largest insurance corporations in the country, hj 
finds time tO' attend tot his vast prixate interests, 
and occupies one of the higiiest ^lasonic offices 
in the United States. Henry L. Pahner, besides 
being a successful American, is also a remark- 
able one, and he has always occupieil a foremost 
position in many of parts he has assumed m 
his long years of residence in the state of Wis- 
consin. 

Henry L. Palmer was born in Mount Pleas- 
ant, Wayne county, Pennsylvania, October i8, 
1819. He received a common-school education, 
studied law, and was admitted to the Ijar. In 
1836 he went to West Troy, New York, to re- 
side, and from there came to Wisconsin in 11849. 
Soon after settling here he formed a law part- 
nership with Abram D. Smith, a distinguished 
member of the bar, and the firm was eminently 
successful. In June, 1853, Mr. Smith became a 
member of tlie supreme coiu't, and Mr. rainier 
practice for some tune alone. During his career 
as an active attorney he was associated at differ- 
ent times with soine of the most distinguished of 
Wisconsin's legal luminaries, among whom may 
be mentioned Joshua Stark, Erastus Foote, John 
R. Sharpstein, David G. Hooker and F. W. Pit- 
kin, afterward governor of the state of Colorado. 
Mr. Palmer was one of the first permanent officers 
of the Bar Association of Milwaukee, which was 
organized in 1838. He had, up to his election to 
the office o'f county judge of Milwaukee county 
in 1873, always taken an active interest in Demo- 
cratic ]>o1itics. and was the acknowledged state 

leader. In 1863, he was candidate for gover- 
20 



nor. He was a mtmber of the assembly in 1853, 
i860, 1862 and 1873, and was speaker of that 
body in 1853, and at the extra sessii.n of the Leg- 
islature in 18O2. He was a state senator in 1867, 
and 1868. In January, 1874, Mr. Palmer re- 
signed from the bench in order tO' assume the 
office of president of the Xurthwestern }ilutual 
Life Insurance Company, a position which he 
has held continuously to the present day. In the 
"sixties Mr. Palmer was a member of the School 
Board for several terms, and also president o-f the 
board. He also served a term as city attorney 
of ^lilwaukee. The Northwestern Mutual Life 
Insurance Company is one of the leading cor- 
porations of its kind in the country, and under 
Mr. Palmer's splendid executiveship it has made 
its most remarkable strides. It was first organ- 
ied under a charter granted by the lelgislature in 
1857, and was kno-wn as the Mutual Life Insur- 
ance Company of the state of Wisconsin; the 
headquarters were at Janesville. In 1858 Mr. 
Palmer became identified with the company, as 
its attorney, and also as a member of its executive 
committee. In 1864 the name of the corporation 
was, by permission of the legislature, changed to 
that it now bears, the Northwestern Mutual Life 
Insurance Company, and its headquarters re- 
moved to Milwaukee. 

In the Masonic order, Mr. Palmer has won 
high honor. He is now serving his eighth term 
as grand commander of the supreme cormcil for 
the northern jurisdiction of the United States 
of America of the Scottish Rite Masons, and has 
risen to the 33rd degree. He is the oldest living 
past grand master of the grand encampment, 
Knights Templar, in the United States. In 
June. 1850, he 1)ecame a charter member of the 
first commandery in the state, and in October. 
1859, was chosen grand commander of the grand 



396 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



comniandery of Wisamsin. In August, 1863. the 
Wisconsin grand consistory was instituted, and 
.Mr. Palmer was the first iUustrious commander- 
in-chief. His present jurisihclidu tal<es in tlie 
Masonic bodies in all the states north of the 
Ohio river and east of the Mississippi river. In 
July, 1850, he helped organize the present St. 
James I'arish. which is one nf the richest and old- 
est in W'isciinsin. During his acti\-ity in public 
and pdlitical affairs there were few, if any, pul>- 



lic movements in which he did not take a princi- 
pal part, and the story of the growth of Milwau- 
kee and the history of the state for the past tifty 
years is full of recitals of events in which Mr. 
Palmer conspicuously figured. 

Of late years he has devoted his time and 
energv exclusively to the attention of the North- 
western MiUu.'d Life Insurance C<imi)any"s af- 
fairs. He is a menil)er of the Milwaukee Club 
and also of the Craftsman Club, of New York. 



EDGAR B. TOLMAN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Edgar B. Tolman is an active and able mem- 
ber of the Cook county l)ar. He was born Sep- 
tember 5, 1859, and is a son of the Rev. Cyrus 
F. Tolman, D. D., and :\Iary (Bronson) Tolman. 
liis education was received at the public schools, 
supplemented by a course at the 
Chicago University, from which 
he was graduated in 1880, and at 
the Union College of Law, grad- 
uating in 1882 with the award of 
the Horton prize for the best 
legal thesis of that year. He 
then entered the law office of 
Doiilittle & McKey, oi wdiich ex- 
L'nited States Senator James R. 
Doolittle was the senior memljer, and was ail- 
mittcd to the firm in 1889, being now the sole 
survi\-ing partner of said firm. 

During the twenty yrars he has practiced at 
the Chicago bar he has been connected with many 
inipnrtant cases in nianv varied Ijrancbes of the 
law. Commencing, as many young lawyers do, 
with commercial law, he became well known as 
a s]>ecialist of that branch, later devoting more 
I if his lime to corporatinn law and law of real 
estate, and later still, has become a well-known 




authority in the law of taxation, special assess- 
ment and numicipal law. 

Major Tolman enlisted in the First Regi- 
n.ent, Illinois National Guards, in 1877. Com- 
missionetl captain Fourth Regiment. I. N.'G., 
1884, and transferred to First Regiment, with 
bis command, in 1886. Served in that regiment 
as captain and then as major until the breaking 
out of the Spanish-American war ; was mustered 
iiito the United States Volunteer Army with 
rank of major, commanding a battalion of the 
First Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He served 
with his command at Chickamauga, (ieorgia, ami 
Tampa, Morida, until July ist, and on that date 
sailed with the secnnd exiiedition to L'uba, and 
served at Santiago^ de Cuba from July 9th un- 
til August 24th, arriving in time to p.articipate 
ir. the siege and bombardment the last week be- 
fore the capitulation of that city. He was as- 
signed bv (ieneral liates. because of his knowl- 
edge of the Spanish language, to guard with his 
own battalion the surrendered Spanish army of 
twelve tlvnisand five hundred officers and men in 
San Juan camp, and after the completion of that 
dutv returned with his regiment (the last regi- 
iiient of the b'ifth .\rmy Cnrps to lea\-e the 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



397 



island) to Camp Wykoff. He was mustered out 
of the United States service Noveml)er 8. 1898. 

Alajor Tolnian was Democr.'itic nominee in 
1900 for judge of tlie superior com't of Cook 
county, Ijut was defeated in tlie Republican land- 
slide of that year, although running" far ahead 
of his ticket. In 1901 he was appointed assist- 
ant coi'poration counsel and assigned in charge 
of the law department nf the Chicago hoard of 
l(.cal improvements. 

Major Tolman is a memhcr of Delta Kappa 



Epsilon College fraternity, and ex-president of 
Northwestern Alumni Association of the same. 
.\lnnnius mcmher of C(jngregation of Cni\er- 
sity of Chicago, mcmher of Sons of i\merican 
Revolution, commander of Illinois Commandery 
of Society of Foreign Wars of the United States, 
memher Naval and Military Order of Spanish- 
American War, e.\-judge advocate of Society of 
the Amiy (.)f Santiago de Cuha, and a mcm])er 
of the Irocpiois Club, Chicago^ Athletic Associ- 
ation and Ouadrangle Club. 



EDWIN HARTLEY PRATT, A. M., M. D., LL D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Edwin H. Pratt, one of Chicago's most latter institution, graduating in 1871, receiving 
widelv known surgeons, has been in the active the degree of B. A. 



practice of his profession in this city for over 

twenty-seven years. 

He is a man of great natural ability, and has 
won fnr himself a destinctive po^ 
sitinn in medical circles through- 
out the countrv. He is one of 




His choice of a profession was the law, but 
yielding ti) the wishes of his father he entered 
Hahnemann Medical College, an institution with 
which his father had for many years been con- 
nected, and graduated in 1873, being valedic- 
torian of his class. Dr. Pratt was invited bv the 



the leaders among the noted men board of trustees of the college to become demon- 



of the jirofession wlm ha\e ma- 
terially assisted in the advance 
made in mcilical science in the 
last (pi.nrtcr (if a, century. 

Edwin n. I'ratl was born 
at Towanda, r.i'adford count v. 



strator and adjunct jjrofessor of anatomv, and 
in Lirder to better equij) himself for the position, 
he visited Philadelphia and spent one term in 
Professor Keene's Sclion] df Anatomv and at 
Jefferson Medical College. In 1874 he w.as 
elected full professor of anatomy, continuing" un- 



I'ennsvlvania, Xdvembcr 0, i84(). and is a son of til 1877. when he accepted the same chair in the 

Leonard I'ratt, M. D., and Betsey (Belding) Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, resign- 

Pratt, 1)1 ith descended fnmi an ancestry of Eng- ing in 1883 to take the chair of surgery, whicli 

lish iirigin. lulwin II. Pratt was educatetl at he filled for six years. Following this he was 

the district school in Ruck Creek, Carroll coun- professor of orificial surgery in the ^anle fnr 

tv, illiiinis. at Miiunt Carroll Seminary, Wheaton thirteen years and surgemi in the Cook County 

College, Wheaton, Illinois, fri.ni which he passed Hospital for fifteen years. He is now president 

to the second-vear class in the preparatory de- of the Illinois State Homeopathic Association. 

])artment of the Chicago L'nixersity and subse- He has traveled eNtensi\-ely in this country and 

c|ucntlv comiilcted his collegiate education in the in ]un"iipe. Politically he is a Rqiublicui. lM>r 



398 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



several years Dr. Pratt was at the liead of the 
Lincohi Park Sanitarium. 

As an example of the position held l)v Dr. 
Pratt in the medical wcirld, it may be said that 
he is an honorary member of the Missouri State 
Medical Society, the Ohio Medical Society, the 
Kentucky Medical Society and the Southern As- 
sociation of Physicians and Surgeons, the Illi- 
nois State Medical Society, the Chicago Acad- 
emy of Medicine and the .American Institute of 
Homeopathy. He is also an honora-y member 
in the National Association of Orificial Sur- 
geons. 

Dr. Pratt was married June i6, 1876, to 



Miss Isadore M. Bailey. Sq^arated in 1896; 
they had two children, a boy, killed by street 
cars at eight and one-half years of age, and 
a daughter, who died at age of eighteen months 
of cai)illary bronchitis, complicating whtH:>i)ing 
cough. February 26, 1900, Dr. Pratt married 
}iliss Charlotte Keely. 

In 1886 Dr. Pratt estal)lished the Orificial 
Philiis(i])hy, now universally accepted in the 
United States and other places and in Europe. 
He is the inventor oi many o[>erations and many 
surgical instruments, and is a successful surgeon 
and teacher, while his specialty is chronic dis- 
eases. 



ALEXANDER HUGH FERGUSON, M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Alexander Hugh Ferguson, M. D., C. ^I., 
F. T. AI. S., professor of clinical surgery in the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons (the Medi- 
cal College of Illinois University), professor of 
surgery in the Chicago Post Graduate IMedical 
School, surgeon-in-chief to the Chicago Hos- 
pital, surgeon to Post Graduate Hospital, sur- 
geon to Cook County Hospital for the Insane, 
and consultant to the Provident Hospital, was 
born February 2/. 1853, in Ontario county, Can- 
ada. His parents were Alexander and Ann (Mc- 
Fayyen) Ferguson, natives of Argj-leshire, Scot- 
land, of which he is proud, and can himself siieak 
the Gaelic language. Dr. Ferguson was educated 
at the common schools, Rockwood Academy. 
Manitoba College, Toronto University, Trinity 
Medical School, where he was graduated, in 
1S81, as first silver medalist, also earning by ex- 
amination a Fellowship degree. He received 
post-graduate training in New York. Glasgow. 
London and Berlin, where he t(»k a- thorough 
course in bacteriology under the celebrated Dr. 
Koch. He began the practice of his profession 



in Buffalo, New York, but in 1882 went to Win- 
nipeg, to i)lease his aged mother, who was then 
living there. In the same year he was appointed 
registrar of the College of Pliysicians and Sur- 
geons of Manitoba, and in the following year 
(1883) he took the initiative in founding Mani- 
toba Medical College, which has been a phenom- 
enal success and is a high-grade medical school 
and closely affiliated with the Manitoba Univer- 
sity. 

Dr. Ferguson was professor of physiology 
and histology for three years and taught these 
liranches with much acceptance. In 1886 he took 
the professorship of surgery upon the resigna- 
tion of Dr. J.'unes Kerr, who now holds a similar 
chair in Columljia University, Washington, 
D. C. It was as a teacher of surgery and as an 
operator that he gained his wide reputation. He 
was a member of the staff of the Winnipeg Gen- 
eral Hospital and surgeon-in-chief to the St. 
Boniface Hospital, which furnished him all the 
material that was desired for clinical and oper- 
ative purixises. The major operative work of 





M 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



401 



Brandon and Morden Hospitals was also done 
l)y him, being called to these places when several 
difficult cases had been collected. He enjoyed 
the respect and confidence of the jjrofession and 
licople. as well as the l(i\'al dex'otinn and x'enera- 
tion of his students, which is so' beautifully ex- 
pressed in illuminated addresses presented to him 
when leaving Canada to take his present position 
in Chicago. The one from the faculty says: 

"As professor O'f surgery vou have not only 
commanded the admiration and regard of your 
associate professors but also the veneration and 
loyal esteem of your students. Your operative 
work in hospital and private practice has chal- 
lenged the keenest attention of the medical pro- 
fession of this countr_\- and has retlected the high- 
est honor on yourself and credit uiion the medi- 
cal profession of Canada," etc. 

Dr. Ferguson's dq>arture was referred to by 
the press and people as a "public calamity." He 
was ne\er known to refuse bis services night or 
day, aiul the rich and poor alike sought bis atten- 
tion. On numerous occasions he was known to 
have stayed up all night with patients withcnit 
hope of reward except tlie consciousness of hav- 
ing, as a i)hysician, done his duty to humanity. 
Tiie Sisters of Charity refused to accept his 
resignation as surgeon-in-chief toi tlieir hospital, 
with the hope that some day be might return. 
This is a comiilimcnt which Dr. Ferguson x'alues 
\xry higlily. He was registrar ami treasurer of 
the college; a member of the uni\-ersity council; 
was the first president of the Manitoba branch 
(pioneer) of the British Medical Association, 
formed in 1892 Ijy the late Mr. Ernest Hart, edi- 
tor of the British Medical Journal, and the gov- 
ernment appointed him a member of the iiro\-in- 
cial Ixiard of health. 

Ou December 18, 1893. tlie chair of surgery 
in the Chicago Post-Graduate IMedical School 
and Hospital was offered to Dr. Ferguson, which. 
after due consideration, he accepted, and assumed 
bis duties in June, 1894. In April last Dr. Fer- 



guson and his associate, Dr. Raymond C. Turck, 
purchased the Chicago Hospital, a most favor- 
ably situated and elegantly equipped large pri- 
vate instituti(.)n. of which he is the head. In Sep- 
tember, 1900. Dr. Ferguson accepted the position 
of professor of clinical surgery in the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons (the Medical College 
of Illinois (State) University), which is known 
as one of the largest (about seven hundred medi- 
cal students ) and most progressive colleges in 
this country. 

There is hardly a major operation on the 
body Init be has reiieatedly performed. His 
work on hvdatids of the lixer has lieen the most 
extensix'e of that of an\- man in America and was 
instrumental in first bringing him into notice. 
There is no doubt that Dr. Ferguson is, b_\' his 
natural ability, special education and varied train- 
ing a most suitable person to be what be is — a 
surgeon. He is not only strong, cool and quick 
at bis work, but his in\enti\'e power of instantly 
meeting in a scientific and practical manner 
emergent indications, unforseen complications or 
anomalous conditions as the\' arise is very ob\-i- 
ous when lie is seen performing a difficidt opera- 
tion in a critical case. 

He has not only invented many valuable sur- 
gical instruments which have lieen gladly re- 
ceived b\' the ])rofession, but be has pnxluced new 
procedures in the realm of surgery that are de- 
cided advances. Although not aiming at being a 
voluminous writer, it is surprising the ntuiiber of 
excellent articles he has contributed in the last 
six vears. 

Since coming to Chicago Dr. Ferguson has 
attained recognition, a \-ery large following and 
a phenomenal success. In Chicago every man is 
rated purelv on his merits and the Doctor has 
l)ecn rewarded for his honest toil and abilities as 
a teacher and general surgeon. In the post-grad- 
uate teaching he bad few equals rmd his clinical 
demonstrations are exceedingly artistic. 'i"be 
-American Journal of Surgery six>ke of him as 



402 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



"the most clean and clever operatnr du the west- 
ern continent." It is no wonder that in his puh- 
lic clinics and [irivate hospital are to Ije frequently 
fi'und patients from the most distant parts of the 
land. He has been called ti> the I'acilic coast, the 
Atlantic seaboard, [n the gulf and many times to 
Canada. 

Dr. Ferguson is a member of the British i\Ied- 
ical -Vssociation, the American Medical Associ- 
ation, Chicago Medical Society, Chicago Gynae- 
cological Society, the I'hysicians' Club of Chi- 
cago, honorary member of Military Tract 
Medical Association. W'avne County Medical So- 



ciety, Michigan State Medical Society and also a 
Fellow of the Chicago Academy of Medicine, of 
the American .Association of Obstetricians and 
Gynaecologists, and the Chicago Surgical Scj- 
ciety. 

In religion he is a Presbyterian. He is a 
member of the Scottish Rite, thirty-second de- 
gree, A. F. & A. M. In i.S.Sj Dr. Fergusun 
was married to Miss Thomas, daughter of the 
late Edward Thnmas. Esq., of Nassagawaya. 
near Guclph. Ontarin. His family consists of 
twO' sons, han Ha\elock and Alex;inder f^on- 
ald. 



THOMAS TAYLOR, Jr. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Thomas Tavli r. Jr., attorney-at-law and studying civil law. He was admitted to the Suf- 
master in chancery of the circuit court, has in the folk bar in I'mston in iSSf), and commenced the 
shtirt time he has practiced in Chicago made an practice of law in that city with tlie well-knuwn 
cn\ial>le record in his [irnfcssiou. As a lawyer tirm of Burdctt & (iiaich. After one year in Bos- 
he iias exhiliited an intellectual ca.,t that marks ton, he came to Chicago in 1887. He was ap- 
the best jurist, and, as a mas- pointed Master in Chancery of the circuit court 
tcr, adnnnisters the law in a in 1892 and has remained such up to the pres- 
m.umcr that makes the real chan- ent time, and has a large number of important 
cellor. references during that period. 

Mr. Tayli ir was educated at ]\rr. Taylor was treasurer of the Chicago' Bar 

Kni/x College and at Harvard Association fur two years, is an active and earn- 

L'niversity, where he received the est Republican in politics, and socially is a mem- 

ckgree nf LL. B. After graduat- ber of the L'niversity Club, Chicago Literary 

ing, he spent mie vear abroad at Society and in;iny other prominent organiza- 

IVrlin and \'ienna universities, tions. 




EMORY D. FRAZER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

One of the most popiil.nr advocates at the bar He is an able and well-read lawyer, industrious 

at the present time is Mr. Emory D. Frazer, con- ami indefatigable in all he undertakes, and is 

nected with the firm of Runnells & Burry, with looked upon as one of the most wide-awake and 

ofifices in the Woman's Temple building, Chicago, popular yoinig attorneys at the Chicago bar. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



403 



Emory 1). I'^razer was l)oni in Wayne county, 
Michigan, anil is the son of James 11. Frazer and 
Alice V. A. Frazer. His early education was ac- 
(juircd at Detroit, University of Michigan, and at 
the University of Pennsylvania. His first step 
after leaving- high school was teaching a district 
school in Tuscola county, Michigan, after which 
he fotmd employment with the Pullman Com- 
])an\'. and during said emplmnicnt managed to 
sa\'c enough money to pay his expenses at the 
Uni\-ersity of Pennsylvania and the University of 
Michigan. He was admitted to the practice of 
law in June, 1893, and has since practiced in 
Chicago up to the present date. Mr. Frazer 
has tra\eled extensively thrcughnut the United 
States. In religion he is a mcmher of the Presliy- 



terian church. Pi>itica]l\' in national affairs he is 
a Democrat, but in local p(jlitics believes in vot- 
ing for the best nominee, according to his choice. 

Mr. Frazer is a young lawyer of great prom- 
ise. The zeal with which lie has devoted his en- 
ergies to his profession and the careful regard 
evinced for the interests of his clients have 
brought him a good business and made him very 
successful in its conduct. He is a lawyer who is 
most painstaking in the preparation of his cases, 
giving to them the deqiest study and most earn- 
thought. .Among the personal friends with whom 
he holds social intercourse he is affable and en- 
gaging, unaffectc<l and always cotu'teous. 

Mr. Frazer was married August 28, 1895, to 
Miss Mary Lera R; iljerts, of Detroit, Michigan. 



JOHN F. SMULSKI 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Jiihn I"". Smulski, lawyer and alderman of and was elected, and re-elected by a good ma- 

the sixteenth ward of Chicagn, was burn in Ger- jority in 1S99, as a representative of the si.x- 

many, I'nland. in iSdj. He came to' this cnun- ttenth ward, and elected again in 1901, repre- 

tr\- when but two years of age with his parents, senting the sex-enteenth ward. In the council he 

and was educated in .Vmerica. His father, upon is one of the leaders anil a member of the most 

arri\al in this ciauUry. went into inijjortant committees. As a puljlic speaker he is 




the newspaper bnsiness, in which 
he ni;ide his mark as a man of 
liler,-tr\- merit. 

Jiihn I~. Snudski was ed^i- 
cated in .\nierican and (lerman 
schiinls, and was a student of St. 



clear, forceful and cinn-incing. 

Air. Snudski is a member of the law firm of 
David, Snudski & M'cGaffey. He is a memljer 
of tlie Linciiln and the Chicago- Press Clubs. 
He is alsii president of the Pulaski Lumber Com- 
])any and a direct<ir in the Milwaukee .\venue 
Jernme's College, Berlin. Upon Slate Bank of Chicago. 

his retm-n to this country he also Mr. Snudski possesses all tiie essential ipiali- 

went intii the new.spaper busi- fications of the most able lawyers. His success 
ness, and subsequently entered has been earned not only b\ his ability as a law- 
l^nion College of Law. frnm which he graduated \-er liut by an enthnsiastic dexntiiin tn the cause 
in iS<)0. In pnlitical matters he stands high and nl his clients, lie has manv ac(|n;n'nlances and 
is (pnte a leader in the l\epublic;m ranks, especi- friends; his social qualities render him popular, 
ally among the Polish and other citizens who while his genuine worth commands the respect 
know him best. In 1897 he ran for alderman of all with whom he comes in contact. 



404 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



HON. PHILETUS SAWYER 

OSHKOSH, WIS. 

Pliiletus Sawyer made ;i ilec'[) impression on year Mr. Edgar P. Sawyer was taken as a part- 
llic pul)lie life of his time. He approached the ntr and the firm was known as P. Sawyer & Son. 
hiddcr of fame and fortune, and placed his feet 
uii every round, as the result of his own lahor 
and merit. U he had opportunit_\-, he created it; 
if he had success, he achie\ed it; ho filled four 
.score years with goodness and crowned them 
with greatness. 

]\Ir. Sawyer was horn in Rutland county, 
Wrmont, Sept. 22, jSif). When one year old 



Mr. Sawyer was a stockholder and director in 
se\-eral hanking institutions, and was a director 
and otificer in the National Bank of Oshkosh, one 
of the most solid financial institutions in Wiscon- 
sin. He was also a stockholder in extensive mills 
on the Menominee river and elsewhere, and 
owned e.\tensi\e luniher yards in Chicago'. 

Mr. .Sawyer was gifted, ahove most men. with 



the family moved to I'^ssex county. New York, a wonderful memory and capacity for storing 

and located at Crown Point. Pliiletus, at an aw ay in his mind a multiplicity oi affairs, so that 

early age, took his sh.-ire of the work on his he was able to give time and attention to public 

f;ither"s farm, so that his educational ailvantages affairs without imiKiiriug his grasp of his own. 

were limited to the annual three months winter He was a born leader of men, whose character for 

term of the pul)lic school. He started out for sound practical sense, strict integrity, firmness of 

himself when seventeen years of age, and before purpose and energy in accomplishment of all 

he was twenty-one he had given himself two laudable pursuits made him a commanding figure 

more terms at the district school. In 1837 he be- in the comnuniity. 

gan oper;iting a mill, under contract, sawing "by ^Ir. Sawyer was ne\-er an office seeker, Ijnl he 

tlie thousand." In 1841 he was married to Mel- se acquired the confidence of those among whom 

vina M. Hadley, a young lady of an adjoining he lived that office sought him. He acted and 

town, and in the fall of 1847, "'tb bis wife and voted with the Republican party from its organi- 

two sons, he removed to ^^'isconsin .and settled zation. He was repeatedly chosen alderman of 

u|)on a f.arm which he iiurcbascd in I'lmd du Lac his ward, and in 1857 was elected representative 

county. .\ brief experience satisfied Mr. Sawyer in the legislature. He declined further political 

that he had not settled uixm the best field for the honors until 1861, when he A\as again sent to tlie 

exercise of bis industry, and in 1849 he removed legislature. In 1862 he declined the nomination 

to the village of Algonia. now in the city of Osh- for congress, and in 1863- 1864 he served as 

kosh, where be operated a mill. In 1853 ^Ir. mayor of Oshkosh. In 1863 he took his seat in 

Sawyer formed a partnership with Messrs. Brand the house of representatives, where he served ten 

and Olcott and purchased the mill he had l>een years. At the end of his fifth term he steadily 

operating. Mr. Olcott retired from the finn in refused to stand as a candidate for another term. 

1856. and the firm of P.rand & Sawyer continued During his ser\-icc in congress he secured liberal 



the business until 1862, when ^Ir. Saw_\cr pur- 
chased the interest of Mr. Brand at an advance 
of over seventy thousand dollars above the origi- 
nal capital in tlie business. In the following 



appropriations for the rivers and harbors of his 
district. In 1876, with other capitalists, Mr. 
Sawyer purchased the West Wisconsin Railroad, 
and later the North Wisconsin Railroad. Thev 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



405 



afterward acquired the St. Paul and Sioux City 
lines, and b}- connecting four struggling lines, 
formed one strong one, known as the Chicago, 
St. Paul. Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad Com- 
])any. Mr. Sawyer was vice-president and di- 
rector. 

Mr. Sawyer, after reiieated solicitations, ac- 
cepted nomination as senator, and took his seat 
in the forty-se\-enth congress. It was stated that 
Mr. Sawyer reported from his committee a 
greater number of bills than were e\cr before re- 
ported by any other senator. He was a member 
of the committee on pensions and reported over 
one thousand bills f(_>r pensions that were passed 
by the senate. 

The private and domestic life of Senator 
.'^.nwyer \vas a singularly hapjjy one. Mrs. .Saw- 



yer died May 21, 1888. She dispensed the genial 
hospitality of their home with a liberal hand. 
Her simple and unostentitious charity was lav- 
ishly bestowed. The sur\i\ing children are Ed- 
gar P. Sawyer and Mrs. W. O. Goodman, of 
Chicago. 

Mr. Sawyer's liberality is well known; the 
churches and educational institutions of his state 
were ol.)jects of his generosity. The Y. M. C. A. 
of Oshkosh is indebted to his bounty for their 
ability to secure a large and commodious business 
block of the city. He helped to build and ecpiip 
the beautiful public library of Oshkosh, and left 
a handsome bccpiest to be used as an endowment 
fund for the Home for the Friendless. 

Mr. Sawyer ])assed away March 29, 1900. at 
the home of his son. A long, well-rounded life! 



FRANK HATCH JONES 

CHICAGO ILL. 

Frank H. Jones, secretary of the American Mr. Jones then entered ujion his professional 

Trust & Savings Bank, is a man of national career at Springfield, Illinois, and during his 

re|)utation, having held the position of first assist- residence there, served as a member of the general 

ant Postmaster General under President Cleve- assembly, which elected Hon. John M, Palmer, 

land's seciind administration. As a lawyer, to the United States senate, he making the nomi- 

stattsnian. political leader and (irator he bears a nation speech in the house by selection of the 

high re])utation, that is l)y no meruis continetl to Democratic caucus. He was early in life recog- 

the locality in which he li\es. nized as a leader in his party, his rejidy command 

Mr. Jones is a native of Illinois. He was born of language, easy delivery, and brilliant oratory 

in the town of Griggsville. Pike county. March which is always entertaining and convincing won 

6, 1854, and is a son of George \\\ and Cecelia him distinction. 

B. Jones, of Springiield, Illinois. His early edu- During President Cleveland's second admin- 
cation was obtained in the public scluwls of Pitts- istration he was accorded recognition by his party 
held. Illinois. His literary education was com- and appointed first assistant Postmaster General. 



pleted at Vale, from whic.i institution he gradu- 
ated with the class of 1875. lie then attended 
the Columbia Law School of New York Citv, 
and later the Chicago Law School, being ad- 
mittcil to the bar in 1879. 



Mr. Jones is a gold Democrat. 

In September. i8<;;7. he came to Chicago, 
where he again commenced the practice of law 
with Mr. Edwartl F. Uhl, who was ambassador 
to Germany during President Cleveland's second 



4o6 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



administration, and Kenesaw M. Landis, wliu Mr. Jones was prevailetl upon to accept the sec- 

was private secretary to Judge Gresliam wlien tlie retaryship of tlie American Trust and Savings 

latter filled the position as Secretary of State. Bank of Chicago, and which i>osition he still 

They enjoyed a large practice. January i, 1900, fills. 




GEORGE FREDERICK RUSH 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

George Frederick Rush was horn in ^lil- the wholesale prosecutions of primary election 

waukce, Wisconsin, Octoher 20. iS')^. His par- offenders. At this time was developed a public 

cuts were George Frederick Schuster Rush, a demand for primary election reforms in Chi- 

tcacher and writer, and Theresa (Rush). cago. 

In i8(>7 the family came to Chicago, where The Civic Federation and the various clubs 

Mr. Rusli has ever since resided. and organizations appointed a committee of one 

]Ie owes his education to the hundred. This committee secured Mr. Rush to 

public aiul high schools of Chi- draft a primary election law. which public opin- 

cago and the Uni\ersit\' of Mich- ion forced the legislature to enact at the special 

igan. In the University of session of 1898. At the request of the county 

Michigan he receised the degrees judge or the legislature. Mr. Rush has drafted 

A. B. and A. M.. and there he every amendment and addition to this law. The 

also studied law. He finishetl first bill drafted In- him provided for primar\- 

his law studies in Chicago' in the electimis in e\ery election precinct, both the Dem- 

ofiice of Sylvester M. Millard ocratic and Republican primaries to be held to- 

and in the Chicago' Evening Law School, where gether: and the rig'ht of the voter to- participate 

lie finished the post-graduate course. During was based upon the registration by him of his 

the last six years of his public and high school party affiliation. But this was toO' radical for the 

course he was employed evenings from five to legislatu-re and some features bad to be omitted 

twelve o'clock by the Chicago Telephone Com- in order that the hill might pass. 

])any. Before practicing law he taught school Mr. Rush enjovs the credit of discovering 

arid did private tutoring. As a lawyer he first a legal basis for converting the former private 

attracted public notice in the prosecution of elee- primary election into the modern public primary 

tion oft'cnders in jS(;4 by the Civic Federation. election, under public official control. He first 

when some forty offenders were convicted, some made primaries an integral part of the nomi- 

to the penitentiary and others heavily fined. Mr. nating .system of the state. He is a writer and 

Rush assisted John S. Miller and ^^'illiam S. lecturer on the subject of elections antl taxation. 

Forrest in those cases. In 1895 ''^^ Civic Fed- Judge Farlin O. liall has every two years 

eration retained Mr. Rush in its investigation of since i8()5 successively appointed him master in 

the Stock Yards water-steals, resulting in the chancery of the superior court of Cook county, 

exposure of public water-steals l)y four different Since 1S9S Mr. Rush has been in partnership 

concerns. He again came into public notice in \vith Walter S. Holden for the general prac- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



407 



tice of law with ofticcs in the Title & Trust Club and HLnnewnod County Club. In 1897 he 

Inulding. was married to Katharine Xellis Carter, daugh- 

Mr. Rush is a nieniher m1 the liar Assnci- ter of the late Marshall W. Carter. They have 

atiiin, Law Institute, Law Cluh. Lcg;d Club, one child and live at Nu. 

University Club, Ilaniillcni Club, Kenwood avenue. 



5719 Washington 



JACOB R. CUSTER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

In a classification of the lawyers of Chicago cob R. Custer, was a native of Montgomery 

the name of Jacob R. Custer ocupies a notable county, Pennsylvania, and bore arms in the war 

place, a position he has held for over thirty years. which brought to the nation her independence. 

Nothing- has been allowed to divert him from The public schools afforded Jacob Rambo 

his profession, in which he stands in the front Custer his early education, and tlieii within the 

ranks. He is a successful lawyer, classical walls of the old historical educational 

thoroughly skilled in the science ir.stitution at Trappe, Pennsylvania — Washing- 

which lie practices. His promi- ton Hall, — he continued his studies through the 




nence as a pleader at the bar has 
been won by the e.xercise of a 
thoroughly cultured mind anil a 
remarkable energy. 

Jacob R. Custer is a nati\e of 



summer months from 1861 to 1864, devoting 
the winter .seasons to teaching. W'ashington 
Hall was at this time conducted by Dr. Abel 
Rambo', an uncle of Mr. Custer. For several 
UKjutlis he was a member of the Pennsylvania 
Pennsylvania, his birth occurring Militia, at the time of the invasion of the Key- 
near X^alley Forge in Chester stone state and the battle of Antietam, in 1863. 
count}-, ;\lay zj, 1845. ^'^ parents, Da\-id Y. In the fall oif 1864 he became a member of the 
and Esther (Ram1x>) Custer, were both born in sophon-|ore class in Pei-insyl\-ania College, at 
Montgomery coiuity, Penn.svlvauia. the former Ctttysburg, and in. 1867 w-as graduated with 
on the 26th and the latter on the 29th of Janu- third honors. He then commenced the study of 
ary, 1815. The father was a farmer and miller. law. His preceptor was William F. Johnson, an 
and died in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in March, able lawyer of Philadelphia, who directed his 
1895. His widow still survives and n-iaintains reading- for a year, after wliich he matriculated 
her home in that city. She was of Swedish, and in the .\lbauy Law Scho(_>l. of Albany, Xew- 
tlie father of German, lineage, and lioth were rep- ^'ork. I'pon his graduation in May, 18O9, he 
resentatives of prominent families of the Ke\-- was immediately achnitted to the bar of New 
stone state. Members of the Custer family still \"ork, but came west, settling in Chicago just 
own and occupy land which was granted their two years before the great fire. Arriving at Chi- 
ancestors by William T^enn, and of which no con- cago, he <ipened an office and ])racticed for ten 
\-cyance by deed has been made. Otiiers of the years alone. In Jime. 1879. he formed a ])art- 
name mo\-ed to Ohio .-md founded the branch of nership with William J. Cam]>l.)ell, whose otihcc 
tlie family to which General George .\. Custer he had shared for a year previous. This partner- 
belonged. Peter Custer, the grandfather of Ja- ship was continued until the death of Mr. Camp 



4o8 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



bell, March 4, 1896. On the first of July follow- 
ing Mr. Custer entered into partnership witii 
Lester O. Goddard and Joseph A. (iriffin, and the 
firm of Custer, (Inddanl & Griffin soon won a 
place equally prominent with that occupied by the 
former firm of Campbell & Custer. In 1880 Mr. 
Custer was apix>inted master in chancery of the 
superior court of C<xik county, serving in that 
capacity until 1892, when he resigned. From 
1882 to 1890 he served as the attorney for the 
sheriff of Cook county, during the terms of 
Sherififs Hanchette and Matson. 

Mr. Custer has given his attention entirely to 
])ractice in the civil courts and is a strong trial 
lawver and an alile advocate. Among the most 
notable cases in which he has been retained were 
the suits of Armo-ur, Swift and Morris vs. The 
Union Stock Yards and Transit Company and 
the Chicago Junction Railways and Union Stock 
Yards Company of New Jersey, for the i)urpose 
of enjoining the carrying cnit of an agreement 
under which the New Jersey Company was to 
pay Armour, Swift and Morris, 'uix>n certain 
conditions, three million dollars of its income 
bonds. Some of die most eminent counsel <if 
Chicago, New York and Boston were engaged 
in this litigation, which was finally compromised. 

Mr. Custer was also connected with numer- 
ous suits brought by Attorney General Maloney 
against the Chicago gas companies for the pur- 
IMJse of dissolving an alleged trust ; also with a 
ninul)er of suits against the gas companies. 



within the same period, brought in the state and 
federal courts for the purpose of preventing con- 
solidation for the appointment of receivers, etc. 
He also apjjeared in the suits brought before the 
railroad and warehouse commissioners for the 
jnirpose of procuring the revocation of the 
licenses of the public warehouses of Class A in 
Chicago, for an alleged violation of the ware- 
hcuse laws. He was also pronunent in the suits 
brought by the attorney general to enjoin the 
public warehouses of Class A from storing 
their own grain in their own warehouses and 
mi.xing it with grain of odiers. In all of this 
litigation IMr. Custer api>eared for the defend- 
ants. 

Mr. Custer was mairried. Decemlier i, 1879. 
to Miss Ella A. White, daughter of Charles B. 
W^hite. of Chicago, wlio fur many years was a 
member of the well-known lumber firm of White, 
Swan & Comi)any. Mrs. Custer was bom in 
Grand Rapids, Michigan. They liavc had two 
cl'ildren, a son, who died in infancy, and a daugh- 
tci-. Esther R., who died in Germany, October 6, 
Kjoo. They reside at No. 3929 Grand Boule- 
\'ard. 

Mr. Custer is a member of the Union League, 
E.xmoore Country Clul> and Calumet Clubs of 
which latter he is vice-]>resident ; but aside from 
the college fraternity, the Phi Kappa Psi. he l)e- 
l(.'ngs to noi secret societies. He is a stanch Re- 
pul.)lican and a strong adx'ocate of the party's 
principles. 



EDGAR P. SAWYER 

OSHKOSH, WIS. 



Edgar P. Sawyer, for many years one of the United States Senator Philetus Sawyer, and has 
representative business men of Oshkosh, Wis- inherited the energy, force and rare executive 
cousin, is an excellent type of the sagacious, ability as well as the rugged honesty of his fa- 
liberal minded, well bred man of affairs. He is thcr. 



the eldest and only surviving son of the late 



Mr. Sawyer has led an active and busy life 





a^ 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



411 



and liis interest ni the welfare and mural and ma- 
terial advancement uf Oshkush, is deep and sin- 
cere. He is a prune muser in the encunragement 
of charnable enterprises, gi\ing snbstantial as- 
sistance to all laudable undertakmgs. His large 
fortune is never idle but always atiording capital 
fi ir some industrial enterprise. He is a very val- 
ual)lc man tu the community. 

Mr. Sawyer was born at Crown I'oint, Es- 
sex county, New York, December 4, 1842, and 
is the son of the Hon. I'hiletus Sawyer and Mel- 
vina Hadley Sawyer. The Sawyers first settled 
at Lancaster and intermarried with the Prescotts. 
Many distinguished men have eminated from 
them, two United States senators, Prescott, the 
historian, and many others famous in the history 
of our country. 

When Mr. Sawyer was five years old he came 
with his parents to Wisconsin, and when he was 
seven they settled in Oshkosh, so, although a 
native of the east, he is by training and at heart 
a western man. He obtained an excellent com- 
mon-school education, and after finishing the 
business course at Bryant & Stratton's Business 
College, he went to Fond du Lac to be initiated 
into the lumber business with the firm of Brand 
& Sawyer, in 1861. His father bought out his 
partner two years later, and when Mr. Sawyer, 
Jr., was twenty-one years of age he became as- 
sociated with his father's extensive interests, and 
t!ie firm to(.)k the name of P. Sawyer & Soar, a 
name which is continued to this day, and the 
])h.cnominal success of which has been due, in no 
inconsiderable degree, to the tact, ability and 
good judgment of the son. Mr. Sawyer, Sr., 
as is well known, was in public life for manv 
years and during that period the burden of the 
care and management of the extensive enterprise 
in which the firm engaged fell upon his son's 
shoulders. 

Tn 1870 Mr. Sawyer remnvcfl from Fond du 
Lac to Oshkosh, where he has since continued to 



reside. Outside of his lumber interests Mr. Saw- 
yer is actively engaged in banking; he is vice- 
president of the National Bank of Oshkosh, the 
soundest financial institution in the state, and 
also holds large interests in several others. He is 
treasurer of the Sawyer Cattle Company, Tom 
Green and Lion counties, Texas, a stockholder 
in and president of the Oshkosh Gas Light and 
Electric Company, and treasurer (jf the Jjanderc^b- 
Chase Furniture Company. 

Mr. Sawyer is in no sense a politician and 
has steadily refused all ofifers of political prefer- 
ment, but he is a stanch supporter of Republi- 
can principles and a great admirer of Blaine and 
our late President McKinley. 

Mr. Sawyer is a man of pleasing personality, 
genial manners and true courtesy. He is fond 
of all active sports, the president and founder 
of the Country Club, a golf enthusiast, a fine 
wb.ist player and an active yachtsman. The in- 
terest shown in yachting in the vicinity of Osh- 
kosh is due more to his efforts and liberality 
than to those of any other one man, in fact, he 
is a thorough sportsman, and dog, reel and gun 
are to him instruments of great pleasure. He 
is a thirty-second-degree Mason and a noble of 
the Mystic Shrine. 

Mr. Sawyer is a liberal supporter of the Con- 
gregational church society and a man of broad 
and benex'olent principles ; his liberality is of the 
active sort and untiring. Years of travel and oh- 
servation in this country, in Europe and in the 
Holy Land have broadened a naturally liberal 
mind. Li all rclatio:;s to home, society, tO' church 
and state he is entitled to distinctiiin as a rc[)rc- 
sentative citizen. 

Mr. Sawyer was married October 18, 1864, 
to Miss Mary E. Jewell, daughter of Henry C. 
Jewell, a prominent man of Oslikosh. Mrs. 
Sawyer is a descendant of good old ancestry, 
among them the Chaunccys, the Chai)ins, the 
Ixussells and liic I'Lvarts. She is a lady of m.'irkcd 



412 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



refinement and most generous disposition. Tlieir 
liome is tiie center of a cultured society circle. 
Her many admiraljle qualities of mind and 
heart have endeared her g-reatly to her many 



They have two children : Nia, wife of Charles 
Curry Chase; and Philetus Horace, who married 
Caroline, youngest daughter of ex-Governor Up- 
liam. 'i'hcre are two grand-daughters, Jewell 
Chase and Katheryn Sawyer. 



JOHN P. McGOORTY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

John p. McGoort}-, one of the eminent law- receiving favcxrable notice from the press and bar. 
yers of Chicago, wh'ose great earnestness and In 1895 Mr. McGoorty was the nominee of 
force of manner gives him an almost irresistible his party for alderman of the old thirty-fourth 
influence at the bar. He is Ijy nature admirably ward, running over a thousand votes ahead of 
litted for his calling, while his ability, strong his ticket and lacking but a few votes of election, 
character and integrity are In 1896 he was elected to represent the third dis- 
ackno'wledged Iiy all. His po- trict in the Illinois general assembly, and was 
litical career has Ijeen alike able re-elected in 1898. He was the caucus ni inl- 
and honorable, he has always iuee of the Democrats for speaker, thus becom- 
been an earnest advocate of Dem- ing leader of the minority force in the lower 





/ocratic principles and has deliv- 
ered many campaign addresses. 
His strength and influence are 
wi(lel\- felt within the ])arty 
councils. 
John P. McGoorty was born in Conneaut, 



house, a position which he filled with such signal 
ability as to attract the attention of party leaders 
everywhere. Under his guidance the minority 
forces l)ec.ame a unit and remained so^ during the 
entire session. He led in the famous contest with 
Speaker Sherman (jver the refusal of the latter 



Ashtabula county, Ohio, August 25, 1866, and tO' recognize a demand for roll call. In the enc 



is a son of Peter and Mary ( Gaffney ) McGoorty. 
b.oth natives of Ireland. In 1870 the family 
mo\'ed to Wisconsin, settling at Berlin, where 
Mr. McGoorty attended school, afterward grad- 
uating at the high school. 

In 1SS4 he moved to Colorado, remaining a 
year and then returned to Wisconsin and for 
the ne.xt fwe vears was a traveling salesman for 



the speaker succumlied to' the jjressure brought 
bv ]\Ir. ]\IcGoorty ;uid his lieutenants, by which 
the consltitutiona.l riglits of the minc.rity were 
established. He also forced the committee that 
had in charge the bill for the repeal of the Allen 
Street Railway Law to recommend its pas.sage. 
He led the fight upon the floor of the house, and 
it is due to Mr. McGoorty and his colleagues that 



a flouring mill firm. In 1890 Mr. McGoorty the Allen law was e.xpunged from the statute 

came to Chicago and entered the law department iiooks. He was also' instrumental in defeating 

of the L;ike Forest Uni\'ersity, graduating in the notorious Perry bill, which was intentled to 

1893, with high honors. He then began active promote the formation of trusts in Illinois. His 

practice and soon after this attained considerable bill for the ownership of public utilities, although 

prominence by his participation in the Prender- failing of enactment in the senate, attracted ]:)ub- 

gast case, his efforts in behalf of the defendant lie attention and commendation. At the clr>se 



414 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



purchase of central property, in connection with 
Henry Keep and Albert Keep, was the old Uni- 
tarian church lot on Washington street, now oc- 
cupied by the United States Express Company 
and others. They improved the property and 
had their ofikes there for several years. After- 
ward he made other purchases o-n State street, 
also on i\.dams, Madison and La Salle 
streets. 

At the time of the great fire in 1871 he had 
thirty-two buildings destroyed, mostly frame, 
and upon which lie was only able to collect ninety 
thousand dollars insurance. 

Judge Otis never practicetl law in Chicago, 
but gave his whole time and attention to his real 
estate and loam business. 

In 1865, with his eldest brother, James Otis, 
he purchased a lot 011 the southwest corner of 
Madison and La Salle street, where they after- 
ward erected the building now knuwn as the Otis 
block. 

On account O'f his familiarity with buildings 
and property he was sought in 1869 by the presi- 
dents of the L. S. & ML S. Railway and the C. R. 
I. & P. Railway to become president of the Pacific 
Hotel Company, and to construct the Grand 
Pacific Hotel, which was built and after the great 
fire rebuilt. 

On August 28, 1877, the State Savings In- 
stitution of Chicago failed for three million dol- 
lars. It was the largest failure up to that time 



that had occurred in the west. A few days after- 
ward Judge Otis was apix)inted receiver, and 
qualified by gi\-ing (what at that time few men 
cotdd do) a bond oi t\\o< million dollars. The best 
judges at the time predicted the institution would 
not pay over eighteen cents on the dollar to the 
th.irteen thousand six hundred depositors. Jnhn 
W'entworth reported to a public meeting of the 
stockholders, held in Metropolitan Hall, that in 
his opinion the institution would pay out from 
nothing to ten per cent., but by strict economy, 
good judgment and advantageous sales the des- 
perate assets yielded an amount in cash sufticient 
to pay nearly fifty per cent, in cash to the cred- 
itcrs O'f the institution. The cost of the receiver- 
ship was but a fraction of the receipts, and was 
said at the time to be the most economically man- 
aged receivership in the west. 

For years Judge Otis took an active part in 
the diocesan and general conventions of the 
I'rotestant Episcopal church, and for twenty 
years was an authority on canon and church law, 
ln.lding many important offices in the church or- 
ganizations. He was an attendant and large con- 
tributor to Grace and Trinity churches. 

Judge Otis was married Janiiary 4, 1844, to 
Miss Lydia Ann Arnold, daughter of Nathan 
Allen and Phelie Waterman (Allen) Arnold, of 
East Greenwich. Rhode Island. She was bom 
February 9, 1823, at North Kingston, Rhode 
Island. 



SAMUEL M. HAY 

(JSHKOSH, WIS. 

Fromi early manhood Samuel M. Hay has consin, possessing sound and liberal views upon 

been a resident of Oshkosh, and has largely con- all questions relating to the common good. Few 

tributed by his industry, patriotism and public men enjoy better merited distinction or are held 

spirit to the prosperity of the city. He is one in higher esteem. He has extensive banking in- 

of the pioneer residents of that section of the terests ; is president of the National Bank of 

state and the most widely know^n banker in Wis- Oshkosh ; president of the Hay Hardware Com- 




(f.^/ ^ 




if^. 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



417 



pany ; has been honored on two* occasions by elec- 
tion to the mayorahy ; has been a member of tlie 
legislative assembly of Wisconsin, and has been 
elected to the state senate. 

Mr. Hay was burn in Erie county, Pennsyl- 
vania, August 7, 1825. He was the son of John 
Hay and Nancy Langhlin Hay. His father was 
a native of Maryland, to which state Mr. Hay's 
great-grandfather, accompanied by his brothers, 
came from Scotland and settled at Ha\-re de 
Grace. His mother was born in Washington 
county, Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Hay was educated chiefly in the com- 
mon schools of bis native place, but he also later 
secured instructions in a private school. At the 
age of twenty years he journeyed to the north- 
west and settled in Whitewater, Wisconsin, 
where he found anployment in a hardware store, 
and where he remained three years. 

During an outing trip in 1846 he visited Osh- 
kosh, and being very much impressed with the 
natural beauty of the surroundings, and believ- 
ing they were conducive to a prosperous city, he 
decided to enter business there. When Mr. Hay 
first saw Oshkosh it had a pnpulatinn of about 
one hundred people, and was not much more than 
an Indian trading station on the frontier. Two 
years later, in 1848, when he established his 
harchvare business there, the Indians had been 
sent north bv the government. From the begin- 
ning of his career Mr. Hay's efforts have met 
with success. The business which he established 
in 1848 continues at the present day under the 
name "Hay Hardware Company." 

The First Xatinnal Bank of Oshkosh was or- 
ganized in 1863 and he was foremost among its 
promoters. At the time of the institution's formal 
organization he was elected a member of the 
board of directors. In 1805 he was elected to 
the presidency, and retained that office until the 
bank's charter expired in 1883. The bank was 



tlien reorganized, and the name of "The National 
Bank of Oshkosh" was adopted. He was elected 
president of the new organization, and has con- 
tinued in that nffice to the present lime. 

Mr. Hay has been instrumental in the or- 
ganization of several national banks throughout 
the state of Wisconsin. Since he became inter- 
ested in the banking business he has taken an 
acti\-e part in the various banking associations. 
In 1893 he was elected vice-president for Wis- 
consin of the National Bankers' Association, and 
in 1894 was chosen president. 

Mr. Hay has always been a stalwart Republi- 
can and earnest supporter of the [)rinciples of that 
party. He was alderman of his ward in 1856 
and served two terms as mayor of the city, 1858 
and 1859. In 1857 he was elected member of 
the assembly, and in 1862 took his seat in the 
state senate. Had he desired a political career 
he would undoulrtedly have risen to^ high ix>si- 
tion,, but he decided tO' remain a private citizen 
and devote his entire time to his family and to 
his business affairs. He has been active in edu- 
cational matters, and as school commissioner ac- 
complished much g(j(xl for the public schools. 
In 1876 he was appointed by the governor one 
of the regents of the normal schools, and served 
■ the public in that capacity faithfully for fifteen 
vears. In 1S92 President Harrison appointed Mr. 
Hav a member of a commission toi examine the 
mints of the United States at Philadelphia. He 
has been an attendant oif the First Congregational 
church of Oshkosh, and has traveled extensively 
in this and foreign countries; is of broad views 
on all relations of life. He has contributed gen- 
erously to all the religious .societies irrespective 
of denomination. 

Mr. Hay was married in 1852 to Miss Maria 
E. Spaulding. of Oshkosh. R[rs. Hay died in 
1875. He has three children — two sons and a 
daughter. 



21 



4i8 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



WASHINGTON PORTER 

CHICAGO ILL, 

The name of Wasliington Porter has been in Fresno county, California. Fresno is now one 
connected with tliat of the history of Chicago of tlie great fruit producing regions of tliis con- 
fer oA'er thirty years. He has a thorougli under- tinent, Init in 1869 it took men with such per- 
standing of its business and business industries. severance and courage as Mr. Porter always had 
He is a hue representative of a class, much displayed in the luanagement of business affairs 
more numerous in Chicago^ and to promote, what seemed to many, a visionary 
throughout the United States project. 

than is suspected by many, of In i8f,y Mr. Porter also brought the first 

good English stock, both on the full carload of bananas to Chicago from the 
paternal and maternal side. The Isthmus of Darien. or of Panama, as it is now 

generallv called. Mr. Porter maintained an act- 
ive commercial interest in the fruit trade between 
the Pacific states and tlie states of Central Amer- 
ica and Chicago, until liis retirement a few years 




familv of Porter is known for 
fully three hundred years among 
the large landed proprietors of 
the English County of Norfolk. 



From there, Thomas W. Porter, ago from active business. He now enjoys the 
father of ^^'ashington Porter, came to the United case and dignity of a large proi>erty owner. 
States in 1830. He married ^liss Charlotte whose fortune is the result of foresight, energy 
Lane, also of English birth. Mr. Thomas Porter and honesty. 

settled first in New York state, engaging actively The public life of Mr. Porter has been of 

in merchandise, but in a short time the heredi- signal benelit ti.i Chicago, He was one of the 
tary instinct for land (nvning and management of small resolute and brainy coterie to whose efiforts 
agricultural affairs asserted itself, and he moved the establishment of the World's Columl)ian Ex- 
to Boone county in the state of Illinois, and be- position in Chicago was tlue. He was a member 
came a successful farmer on a large scale. of the committee a])pointed to wait upon congress 

Washington Porter was born at the Booue with intent to secure legi.slation favi ralile to 
county homestead October 26, 184C, and was ed- Chicago, and fnmi the first day of the session of 
ucated in the public schools of the neighborhood, 1890 until the passage of the act by which Chi- 
and in the high school of Belvidere. After some cago was designated as the place to which the 
preliminary commercial experience, he came to eyes of the world should be turned in 1893 as 
Chicago, in 1869. He was then twenty-three tlie center of the most wonderful eximsition 
years of age, and true to the instinct of the fam- ever made of the arts, .sciences, agriculture and 
iiy began to exploit the great fruit-growing re- manufactures of all nations. ^Ir. Porter was in- 
sources of the far west. During his first year's cessant in argument with representatives and 
residence in the city he shi])]>ed the first full car- senators from all the states. During the con- 
struction ]ieriod of the great enterprise Mr. 
Porter was an active meml>er of the Ways and 
Means Committee, and when the great exposition 
was an accom])lished fact he was chairman of 



loa<l of fruit that ever came to Chicago from 
California. This was sinuiltaneous with the 
oi)ening of the first transcontinental railway. At 
a later period Mr. Porter furnished the mcmey 



for the planting of the first orchard and vineyard the Sub-Committee of Directors, under whose 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



419 



management tlie first half dollar souvenir coin 
was sold for the fabulous price of ten thousand 
diillars. He was also a member of the cc.nrtmittcc 
for rcdiictiiin nf expenses, by the efforts of w hich 
llic running expenses were reduced from twenty- 
tJiree tbnusand tn fifteen thousand dnllars per 
day. 

yVt the close oi the exposition Air. I^jrter 
made strong efforts to have the great Alanufac- 
turers P.uilding removed from the exposition 
grounds toi the lake front, there to remain as 
one of the attractions of the past that is taking 
the place of the old, dreary waste of cinders that 
used to stretch fmm Randolph to Twelfth street. 
The (lestruclioui of this W'orld's Fair building 
by tire rendered the public-spirited plan o-f Mr. 
Porter's nugatory. It may lie said in passing 
that Mr. Porter was among the lirst, and proba- 
l:il\- the first, to acKocate and champion the \)ev- 



inanent improvement of the lake front into a spa- 
cious and elegant plaisance. 

Mr. Porter has a fine war record. lie en- 
listen at the age of sixteen years in the Ninety- 
fifth Illinois Volunteers, and was in action at 
Champion Hill and at the siege of Vicksburg, 
participating in the Red River expedition, and 
was seriously wounded in the affair at Guns.- 
town, Mississippi, June 10, 1864. Mr. Porter is 
a Mason, a member of the Washington Park 
Club, the Athletic Club, and of several other so- 
cial organizations. Pie was married June 11, 
1891, to' Miss Frances Paulina Lee, of Chicago. 
They have three children, Paulina C. I'orter, 
^\'asllington Porter, Jr., and Frederick C. Porter. 

Mr. I*orter is a man of broad principles, deep 
tliought and earnest purjxxse. He is an honored 
and \ahiefl citizen of Chicago, commanding the 
ap]ircciation and respect O'f all \\h(_i know him. 



CLARENCE I. WOLFINGER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

There is no city in the world where the serv- When the lad was six years of age his jiar- 

ices of skilled and experienced building con- ents removed to Chicago, and here he received 

tractors are in more active demand than in Chi- his education at the public and high schools. ^\t 

cago, where, owing to its rapid and niar\-el<ius the age of sixteen years he entered the factory of 

gr(jwth and development, municipal improve- his father, who operated a cabinet-work factory, 

ments and vast jiriwate enter- He remained here two- years and then spent the 

prises are conducted on a most next five years in Colorado and New Mexico 

extensive scale. .\ leatling and mining and prospecting. He returned to' Chi- 

prominent representative de- cago in 1882 and went into business with bis 

x'oted to this department of in- father in the caliinet-work manufacturing. This 




dustrial acti\ity is Mr. Clarence 
I.- \\'olfinger, the well-known 
builder and general contractor, 
with offices at 164 La Salle street, 
Chicago. He is a son of I-'rancis 
K. and .Martha F. (Kirkbride) W'olfinger, who 
resided at Vermont, Fulton county, Illinois, in 
1859, when on March 27 of that year our sub- 
ject was born. 



continued until 1886, whcu' the father retired, 
and Mr. Wolfing^er spent the next few years as 
manager for Melchior Brothers Furniture Com- 
pany, the firm being large manufacturers of cab- 
inet work. Fie remained here until iScjo, when he 
resigned and branched out for himself as a 
Imilder and general contractor, and in which ven- 
ture he has made a success, and still continues it. 
Mr. W'alfinger has erected a large number of fine 



420 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



residences in different parts of Chicago and had sevtral social clul)s. Air. Walfiuger was united 
large down-town contracts. In politics he is a in marriage August 31, 1885, tu Miss Rosella F. 
Democrat. He is a Mason, and now master of Kountz, daughter of Joseph L. Ko^ultz, of Pitts- 
Masonic Lodge Mvrtle. Xo. 795, and is also a burg, I'cnnsylvania. They have three daugli- 
nicmher of the Roval Arcanum and belongs to ters, Beatrice. Fdua and Imogene. 



GORDON H. GILE 



OSHKOSH, WIS. 



The name of Gordon H. Gile has been fa- 
miliar tO' the i)eople of Oshkosh for the past thirty 
years. He is an old resident of Wisconsin, first 
settling there in 1845, '''"*^' ^^'^'^ ''^^ exception 
of a brief interval has remained there ever 
since. 

He has always been prominent among the 
citizens of the state ami known always as a kind- 
hearted, liberal gentleman and one of true worth. 
He makes no display of abilities or wealth, but his 
quiet and imassuming manner and many deeds 
of benificence ha\e made him extremely iwpular. 
His friends are legion. 

Mr. Gile has been identified with the march of 
progress that has transformed Oshk(;sh in the last 
quarter of a century from a small village to one 
of the most progressive cities of the state. The 
usefulness of such energetic citizens as he has 
been of immeasureable value, and no history of 
the state woidd l)e complete without the mention 
of his name. 

Gordon H. Gile was born at Oxford, Che- 
nango county. New York, May 29, 1828. He 
lived at Oxford until he was twelve years of age, 
when he went to Addison, New York, to live on 
a farm with an elder brother. He worked on 
farms in New York state until he was eighteen 
years of age, when he went to the pinery camps 
on the Susquehanna river, where he worked win- 
ters and in the sawmills during the summer. He 
drove rafts of logs down the Susquehanna river 
to markets at Harrisburg, Marietta and Colum- 



bia, Pennsylvania, and in lloats down Chesapeake 
bav to liallimore. Jn those days there were no 
railroads, and he has often walked back home, 
a distance of four hundred miles. The wages re- 
cei\ed for this class of work was from one dollar 
to one dollar and a half per day and expenses, 
which at that time were considered large. 

In 1845 Mr. Gile had a desire to see the great 
west, and so he sailed around the lakes to Mil- 
waukee. The first proposition that presented 
itself was work on East Water street, Milwaukee, 
where grading was Ijeing done. He stayed until 
the work was completed, when he shipped before 
the mast on a schooner in the lumber trade on 
Lake Michigan for the balance of the season. He 
returned to New York, however, and resumed his 
work on the farms and in the lumber camps and 
sawmills. Later he came back to \\' isconsin and 
settled at Wautoma, Waushara county, where he 
lived for twenty-one years. 

In 1 87 1 Mr. Gile came to Oshkosh, and has 
lived there since that time. His business has 
been that of locating timber and mineral lands, 
prospecting for iron ore. and during the last 
fifteen years his time has been occupied in look- 
ing after the interests of several iron companies 
in which he is interested, and he is still engaged 
ill that work. 

In politics Mr. Gile became identified with the 
Wltig and Anti-slavery parties, and on the pass- 
ing of the old Whig party he became afiiliated 
with the Republicans. In religion Mr. Gile has 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



423 



aclc>i)te(l the golden rule, reserving- Ut liimself the lews good judgment, ctMnbined with energy and 
right t<.) think for liimself and according the same application. That Mr. Gile is one of the success- 
right to others. ful class need not be told to tliose who know him. 
In this broad country success invariably fol- He is a man of whom Oshkosh is proud. 



OLIVER CLYDE FULLER 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 



Among the leading financiers, and one of the 
most public-spirited and progressive citizens of 
Milwaukee, is the subject of this sketch. 

Oliver Clyde Fuller was l^orn September 13, 
i860, at Clarksville, Georgia, and is a son of Hen- 
ry A. and Martha C'ar(jline( W'yley) Fuller. Henry 
A. Fuller was engaged in the wholesale grocery 
business in Atlanta, Georgia, and was one of the 
oldest and best-known merchants of that state. 
The subject of this sketch is descended on his 
mother's side directly from General John Sevier, 
of Revokitionary famie, and the first governor of 
Tennessee. He can also trace his ancestry tO' 
Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, to whom a monu- 
ment is erected in Tennessee, in recognition of 
his services to his countr\' in the Rex'olutionary 
war. Governor Sevier's grandfather, Valentine 
Sevier, moved to England from France and the 
orig-inal name, Zavier. was Anglicized to Sevier. 
He was a descendant of the royal house of Na- 
varre. 

Mr. Fuller was educated at the public and 
private schools of Atlanta, and at the University 
of Georgia, and in 1880 began his Ixisiness career 
as a clerk in the wholesale grocery house of 
Fuller & Oglesby, of Atlanta. He filled one 
position after another until 1882, w hen he became 
a partner in the firm, the name of which was then 
changed to H. A. Fuller & Son. This partlner- 
ship lasted for about five years, when the senior 
member of the firm decided to retire from busi- 
ness, and Mr. Fuller spent the next year or two 
in winding up the business, which was begun at 



the close of the Civil war. Having always had 
a preference for finance rather than for com- 
mercial affairs, Mr. Fuller gave his attention to 
the business of Jones & Fuller, investment brok- 
ers, a firm in which he had become financially 
interested. 

In the meantime, through the death of her 
father, Mr. Fuller's wife had become interested 
in a large estate in Milwaukee, the management 
of which required so much of his time that in 
1891, Mr. Fuller finally moved to that city. He 
then established the present business of Oliver C. 
Fuller & Co., first as a private banker and dealer 
in commercial paper and securities, and later 
dealing exclusively in high-class bonds. Iiu a 
coni])arati\el\' short lime he had won the con- 
fidence and the respect of a large circle of the 
wealthiest and mi;)st influential citizens of the 
state of Wisconsin. 

Mr. Fuller is a man of active and energetic 
temperament, and while devoting the closest per- 
sonal attention tO' his own business, as well as to 
the affairs of several large private estates en- 
trusted to his management, at the same time has 
taken a prominent part in the public and social 
affairs of his adopted city ever since he came 
to Milwaukee. 

As an evidence of the esteem in which Mr. 
Fuller is held in Milwaukee, it may be mentioned 
that on the occasion of the visit to Milwaukee of 
President McKinlev and his cabinet, in 1899, at a 
inrblic meeting of citizens held to arrange for the 
important event, Mr. Fuller was unanimously se- 



424 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Itclel as cliainiian of llie cninmittee on arrange- 
ments and enlertainnient, with autlmrily to ap- 
point all sub-committees. 

He was one of the leading sjjirits in the or- 
ganization in 1897 of the Milwaukee Carnival 
Association, which through its annual carnivals 
for several years, did so nuich to ad\crtise i\Iil- 
waukee. 

Mr. Fuller is treasurer ami a trustee of Forest 
Home Cemetery, the principal cemetery of Mil- 
waukee, whidi is under the control of St. Paul's 
(Episcopal) cluu-ch. of which he is a vestryman, 
and is president of the Wisconsin Society, Sons 
of American Rexolution, and an officer or direc- 
tor of a number of local institutions and corp<5ra- 
tions. He is an active meml>cr of the Milwaukee 
Club, the :\lilwaukce Country Club, the Bankers' 
Club, the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Milwau- 
kee Yacht Club, the Southern Society of New 
York, and a number of golf and social clubs in 
the south, where, with his family, he spends a part 
of each winter. 



On yh\\ 25, 1S81. Mr. Fuller was married to 
Kate Fitzlnigh Caswell, of Atlanta, Georgia, and 
they have six children, four daughters and two 
sons. 

Mr. I'ullcr has always avoided ])olitical of- 
tices and i)olitics generally, excepting to vote. Up 
to i8(j() he had always been a Democrat, but that 
year he voted for President McKinley, and has 
voted with the Republican party ever since. 

Mr. Fuller has traveled at different times o\er 
many parts of Europe, the West Indies, Mexicij 
and the United States, and being a close observer. 
is well informed as to the conditions existing in 
the countries he has visited. While as a v(;uih he 
was inclined to be delicate in health, by travel and 
active and regular ])articipation in athletic sports 
he has succeeded in building up a sound and 
hardy constitution. As a devotee to base ball, 
boxing-, tennis and golf, in turn, he has a cabinet 
full of cups and prizes as an evidence of his 
success. 



CHARLES BARBER. 

OSHKOSH, WIS. 



Charles Barber has made an indelible impres- 
sion on the public life of Oshkosh and through- 
out the State of Wisconsin. 

.\s a lawyer he stands pre-eminently high, and 
through his twenty-eight years of practice is 
recognized as one oi the most able practitioners 
at the bar. 

Charles P.arber was born in Burlington, Ver- 
mont. September 21. 1851, and is the eldest son 
of Dr. Ammi P. liarber, a distinguished physi- 
sician. Mr. I'.arber's mother, who before her 
marriage was Miss Kimetia Emily Noyes, was 
a daughter of Judge Breed Noyes, of Hyde 
Park, La^Ioille county, Vemiont, and both 
of his parents l)elonged to old New England fam- 
ilies, the original Noyes ancestor in this country 



being a clergyman who moved from Salisbury, 
England, to Connecticut in 1634. Mr. Barljer's 
father was a native of Vermont and his grand- 
father was one of the early settlers of the 
Green Mntuitain State. Antecedent ancestors 
were among the colonists of Connecticut ; and 
the descent of this branch of the Barber family 
in America is from an ancestor who came to 
this country fmm the North of Ireland in 1635. 
Dr. Annni P. P>arber moved to O.shkosh 
from Vermont in 1857 and his son Charles was 
brought u]-) in this city. He obtained his early 
education in the public schools and was a mem- 
ber of the first class graduated from the high- 
school in 1868 and was the first president of the 
Alumni Association. Mr. Arthur Everett, a 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



427 



scholarly and accmnplishcd gentleman, was then 
principal of the hig-h schnol ami after being- 
graduated fmni that institution. Mr. LJarher en- 
ttred uijon and ciinii)leted the etpiixalent of a 
collegiate course of study imder Mr. Everett's 
pri\-ate tutorship. 

While pursuing this course of study, he also 
began the study of law in the olifice of Earl P. 
Fincli, one of tlie leading members of the old 
Ijar of Oshkosh. He was assistant and \ice- 
l)rincipal cjf the Oshkosh high school three years; 
and in 1873 went to Xew York city, where he 
tuuk the full course in the Columbia Law School. 

Returning, to Wisconsin, he was admitted to 
practice in the Circuit Court of Winnebago 
county in the summer of 1874, and immediately 
tliereafter formed' a co-partnershiii with his 
former [ireceptor, Mr. Finch. This partnership 
continued up to the time of the death of Mr. 
Finch, which occurred in 1888; and the firm thus 
constituted was long recognized as one of the 
leading law firms in northern Wisconsin. 

From September, 1874, to September, 1875, 
Mr. Barber filled the office of inspector of the 
city schools of Oshkosh, which nfficc correspond- 
ed to the present one of superintendent of 
schools. He also seryed as school commissioner 
and in 18S3 held the office of city attorney. With 
these exceptions, he has held no official position 
and is wholly without political ambition; but has 
freely given his time when required f(jr the in- 
terests of the Democratic party and has been con- 
sjjicuous in its councils and conventions. 

As a lawyer Mr. Barber's practice has grown 
to yery large proportions, extending into the 
higher courts of Wisconsin and other states and 
into the United States Courts. In 1877, he ar- 
gued his first case in the United States Supreme 
Court. It involved the title to school lands in 
Indian reservation and settled issues of much 
importance in the State of Wisconsin. Mr. Bar- 
ber is at present senior member of the law firm 
of Barbers & Beglinger, which is composed of 



himself, his brother, Henry Barber, and Fred- 
erick Beglinger. 

vSince entering upon manhood, Mr. Barber's 
career has ])een an acti\-e and busy one. He has 
been and is now identified with numerous busi- 
ness interests in Oshkosh. lie was for ten years 
])resident if the Street Railway Company. He 
is director of the National Union Bank and was 
for }-ears director of its predecessor, the Union 
National. Fie was tme of the organizers of the 
Cjermaui National Bank and is a stockholder in 
that and other Ijanking institutions. 

Mr. Barber is president of The Times Pub- 
lishing Company and takes an active interest in 
its management and its affairs. He took a lead- 
ing part in the organization of this company, as 
well as of numerous others that ha\e been es- 
tablished in this city and surrounding section. 

Mr. Barber is president of the Smith Grove 
Land Company of Oshkosh, and is vice-presi- 
dent of the Buckstafif-Sprague Lumber Company, 
the Morris Manufacturing, and the IMorris & 
A\'hitconil) Railway Company, which last trio 
form a large lumber industry at Morris, Shawano 
CI lunty, \Visconsin. 

Mr. Barber's tastes are decidedly literary, 
and notwithstanding the great draft upon time 
and energy that his large i)ractice and business 
interests entail, he is a constant student and great 
reader. He is a man of letters in every sense 
of the term. His information obtained by years 
of systematic and well-directed study is practical- 
l\- boundless and his judginent and tone in liter- 
ary matters is tluit of a polislied, t'mished scholar- 
ly gentleman, 

Mr. Barber is also a man of large, whole- 
some public spirit and of intense patriotism, gen- 
eral and local. E\-ery mm-ement that has for its 
moti\e and impulse the advancement of city or 
country is assured in advance of Mr. Barber's 
hearty assistance and sui)port. His energy and 
sagacity — which he is always willing to supple- 
ment in a financial wav — have been the dominat- 



428 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



iiig' iiilluence of man\' a profitable and advanta-. 
geous public project. His is a strong character 
and one that by reason of its power and mag- 
netism could ncjt fail ,to l)e of effect in the mold- 
ing of the tliDUght and trend of the community 
of which it fnriued an integral factor. 

Mr. Barber's record as a lawyer in northern 
Wisconsin is so well known that detailed men- 
tion would be superfluous. His life ever since 
he was admitted to the liar has been spent in 
the courts of our State and the records of these 
courts tell a large part of his life story. That 
this story is decidedly commendable and worthy, 
Mr. Barljer's h'igh standing at the bar and in 
the ciimnuuiity prov-es incontrovertibly. 

For twenty-five years he has been local coun- 
sel of the C. M. & St. P. Railroad Comi>any, and 
was for many years local counsel of the C. & N. 
\y. Railroad Company. He has been connected 
with nearly all the important criiuinal cases in 
this part of the state. He was apixjinted by the 
state to prosecute the Berlin banker. C. A. Mather, 
and defended' the banker, Leonard Perrin, in a 
case which lasted forty days. He was counsel 
in the Campfield nunxler case, the most sensa- 
tional case in northern Wisconsin, an<l after two 



trials in which tlie jury disagreed, Mr. Barber's 
client was discharged by orler of the court. 

He was recently employed to look after the 
interests of the city of Oshkosh in the litigation 
against the Water Coiupany. and in the action 
over the validity of the Harris will giving the 
city of Oshkosh a public library. In this litiga- 
tion Mr. Barber was successful. Air. Barber is 
a memljer of the American Bar Association and 
is vice-president of that organization for the 
State of Wisconsin. He is a meml^er of the State 
Bar Association, and is vice-president for the 
Third Judicial Circuit. 

For many years Mr. Barber has been vestry- 
man of 'JVinity Episcopal church of this city 
and took an acti\e [jart in the mox'ement that re- 
sulted in the erection of the i)resent handsome 
structure. 

Mr. Barber is the possessor of a \erv large 
and fine library. His abode is one of culture and 
refinement. 

In 1879 ]\Ir. Earlier was united in marriage 
to Miss Daisy C. Jenkins, daughter of Captain 
Jenkins, of Oshkosh. She died in 1891, leav- 
ing four daughters. In 1893 he was again mar- 
ried to Miss Mary B. Billings, of Oshkosh. 



MILTON GUSHING PHILLIPS 

OSHKOSH, WIS. 



Milton C. Philli]is, ex-United States district war all his patriotism was aroused, and, leaving 



attorney for the eastern district of Wisconsin, is 
of Welsh and Dutch descent. 

His fatlier, Bradford Phillips, was a lumber 
nianufacturer, owning a null and considerable 
lumber land on the Little Wolf river in Waui)aca 
county, at the time of his death. 

He came from Turner countv Maine, to W'is- 



a prosperous business, he enlisted in 1861, in 
Company A, Eighth Regiment, as orderly ser- 
geant of his company, which was commonly 
known as "Eagle Company." He remained with 
his commantl until the second l)attle of Corinth, 
in October, 1862, when he fell in the field. He 
was a man of great native ability, l3<^th in busi- 



consin in 1849 when a young man and without ness and as a public speaker, and had attained 
means, beyond a small amount saved from his no little ]ironunence in eastern Wisconsin in 
own earnings. Uix>n the outbreak of the Civil both spheres before he entered the army. His 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



431 



wife, Marion Elizal^eth Hulse, daiigliter of 
Lucian Hulse, was tern in Pennsylvania, of 
Dutch ancestry, and came to Appleton, Wiscon- 
son, with her parents in childhood. She was well 
educated and a woman of strong- character and 
high personal attainments. 

Milton C. Phillips was born in Royalton, 
Wisconsin, July 25, 1856. His primary educa- 
tion was received in common and select schools, 
and in 1872 he entered Oberlin College, where he 
was a student for four years, when he left the 
institution to take a place as station agent on the 
Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul Railroad. After 
some years spent as station agent, and in manu- 
facturing, he began the study of law in the office 
of Brown & Bump, in Waupaca, Wisconsin, and 
was admitted to the bar in 187Q. Immediately 
after admission he began the practice of his pro- 
fession at Clintonville, Wisconsin, where he re- 
mained five years, succeeding in building up a 
business reputation. During his last years there 
he was in partnership with C. H. Forward. In 
1884 he and his partner moved to Oshkosh, where 
a partnership was formed with George Gary 
under the firm name of Gary, Philips and For- 
ward, which was dissolved in 1886. Mr. Phillips 
is now associated with E. R. Hicks, the firm be- 
ing Phillips & Flicks. He has lieen connected 



with much nf the imijortant litigation in Osh- 
kosh and \icinity, where he stands in the front 
ranks of his profession. His special taste for in- 
surance law has led him to devote much of his 
time to this branch of practice, and he n(jw ap- 
pears in much of the litigation of that character 
in the state. He is retained by a number of do- 
mestic as well as foreign companies. 

In April, 1897, he was appointed by Presi- 
dent McKinley, United States district attorney 
for the eastern district of Wisconsin. Mr. Phil- 
lips has always been affiliated with the Republi- 
can partv, and has taken an active part in \kA\- 
tics. In 1894 he was chosen chairman of the 
Republican cummittee nf Winnebago county, one 
of the largest counties in the state, being again 
selected to the responsible position in 1896. 

The Republican plurality during the time of 
his management was the largest which the county 
ever gave. 

He is a Knight of Pythias, an Odd Fellow 
and a Mason of high standing, and a member of 
the Presbyterian church of Oshkosh. Mr. Phil- 
lips was married in 1878 to Marcia H. Eastman, 
youngest daughter of Rev. M. L. Eastman, of 
Royalton, \\'isconsin. His family consists of five 
children. Bradford E.. Ermine J.. Phillip, Lewis 
and Mariam H. Pliilliiis. 



CHARLES W. FELKER 

OSHKOSH, WIS. 



Mr. Charles W. Felker was born in Penn 
Van, Yates county, New York, on the J5th day 
of November, 1834, and is a son of Andrew and 
Maria (Pri.xley) Felker. His father was a 
farmer and for some years resided in Canan- 
daigua. Ontario county. New York. His father 
lost his property in the bankruptcy days of 1837, 
and in 1844 removed to McHenry county, Illi- 
noi.s, and in 1846 to Winnebago county, Wis- 



consin. In addition to a common-school eiluca- 
tion Mr. Felker recei\ed an academical education 
at the Bmckport Collegiate Institution, New 
York, and at the Charlotteville Institute, Scoharie 
county. New York. Mr. I'elker has been a resi- 
dent of Wisconsin since the spring of 1846. In 
1856 Mr. Felker became the editor of the Osh- 
kosh Democrat, a newspaper published in the city 
of Oshkosh, and remained in that position for a 



432 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



year and a lialf. and later on he became 
tlie editor of the Oshkosh Times, a newspaper 
l)iil)lisiied in the cit}' of Oslikosli, which he edited 
until Septcniher, iS88. In June, 1862, he was 
married to Miss Sarah C. Duuty. Three daugh- 
ters and two sons living" are the issue of the 
marriage. 

Mr. Felker was admitted to the bar in March, 
1858, and was in 1875 aihnitted to the bar of the 
Supreme Court of the United States. His prac- 
tice was quite large throughout the state in 
both the state and federal courts. In 1864 'Slv. 
Felker enlisted in the 48th J'iegiment. Wisconsin 
Vi)lunteer Infantry, and was elected captain of 
Company .\. He was mustered out of the service 
in June. 1866, and began the practice of law in 
the spring of that year, with ]\Ir. Charles A. 
Weisbrod. Mr. \^'eisbrod died in the spring of 



1876, after which time, with the exception of one 
year, he was engaged in the practice of law alone, 
vintil June, 1892, when he associated himself with 
Mr. Frank C. Stewart, and his son, Mr. Fred- 
erick Felker. At the time of his death he was 
senior memljer of the legal firm of Felker, Stew- 
art & .McDonald, of O.shkosh. 

Air. Felker was a- Democrat politically but 
was not a politician or a partisan. lie was not a 
member of any ecclesiastical organization, but 
lie was an attendant of the Episcopal church and 
believed in its doctrines. His law library was 
among the largest in the state, as was also' his 
collection in the line of general literature. Mr. 
Felker died at his home in Oshkosh, Xo\eniber 5, 
1 90 1. He was universally regarded as one of 
the most brilliant lawyers O'f the state of Wis- 
consin. 



FRANK G. HOYNE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Frank (I. Ibiyne, one of the active and able came to Chicago in 183,^. being married to 

.business men nf Chicago, has wun hnucirable (lis- Thomas Hoyne in 1840. 

tinction by the capalile manner in which he has Mr. Hoyne is indebted to the puljlic schools 
discharged the public duties entrusted to his care. of the city for his early education and to the Uni- 
He is a wurthy representative of that t\pe of \ersit}- of Chicago' for the higher learning, but 
.\nicrican character and jjrogress- left before graduating to- accompanv Professor 
i\e spirit which promotes public Sali'ord on a western trip, who was under en- 
good in advancing individual gagement by the government t(j make a new war 
prosi)crit\- and conserving pi>pu- nap of Kansas and Colorado. In 1872 the 
l;ir interests, winning for himself young" man returned from surveving and entered 
mist favoralile criticism from the firm of Culver, Page, Hovne & Company, 
men I if all classes. blank book manufacturers, starting at a salary of 
Air. Hoyne was born in the five dollars a w"eek and advancing until he be- 
city of Chicago, July 17, 1854. came superintendent of the city manufacturing 
his father being a well-known department. When this firm snld out in 1884 he 
lawyer of the city and a pioneer j<>ined his brother, James F. Hoyne. in the real 
resident of Chicago when it was but a frontier estate business, under the firm name of Hoyne 
town, having come from Ireland and settled here Brothers, in w"hich he is still interested, 
in 1837. His mother w"as born in Virginia, but In 1886 Mr, Hoyne was appointed United 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



433 



States appraiser, during President Cleveland's 
lirst administration, the uflice being retained un- 
til iS(jo. Four years later he was reappointed 
to the same office during Cleveland's second 
term, giving the greatest satisfaction during the 
entire time of his incumhency. In his political 
affiliations Mr. Hoyne is a Demucrat, who 
strongly advocates the principles of his party, 
and was at oiie time \-ice-president of the Co(,)k 
count v Democracy. He has had some military 
experience, as he joined tlie First Regiment In- 
fantry in 1875, and remained with the regiment 
until 1880, when he was appointed by Brigadier- 
General J. T. Torrence (then commanding" the 
First Brigade) to the position of brigade quar- 
termaster. Wihen General Torrence resigned in 
1885 Mr. H(\vne also retired, and entered the 



Veteran Corps of the First Regiment, in which 
organization he still takes an interest. 

Mr. Hoyne was married in 188.^ to Miss 
Florence Ashton, daughter of Congressman 
Washington Ashton, of Virginia, a lineal de- 
scendant of the George Washington family. 
They have two daughters, Leonora and Helen. 

Mr. Hoyne was one of the organizers and 
principal movers in the establishment of the Iro- 
cpiois Club and is one of its most active and pnn 
gressive members. He is also one of the charter 
members of the Athletic Club and has always 
taken a keen interest in athletic sports of all 
kmds. He is a man of pleasing personality, 
genial manner and true courtesy, and his many 
admirable cpialities of mind and heart have en- 
deared him greatly to his many friends. 



SAMUEL W. ALLERTON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



One of the best-known men in the city of 
Chicago is Samuel W. .\llerton, in Imsiness, 
political and social circles, and he is a man whose 
ability, integrity of purpose are conceded as a 
matter of course by all who know him. He has 
been long and prominently con- 
nected with many of the large 
business ventures occurring in 
Chicago, and in which his con- 
servatism, e.xcellent business abil- 
itv, foresight and sormd judg- 
ment particularly fitted him for 
leadership. He is (piick to con- 
cei\e an idea, cautious in the de- 
termination of its value, and 
resolute in its accomplishment when once he has 
decided upon a course of action, and it nnist also 
be siud that he is ])ul>lic spirited as well as mind- 
ful of his personal welfare. 

Samuel W. Allerton was born in Dutchess 




county, New York, in 1829, of farmer parents. 
He had only" su'ch ad\antages of education as 
could be g'ained from the somewhat inefficient 
public schools of the first half of this century. 
Mr. Allerton has attained commercial, social and 
political distinction. He is a director of the First 
National Bank and of the Chicagoi City Railway 
Company, and has large interests in the principal 
stock yards of the United States. Mr. Allerton 
has not achieved wealth in any gigantic specu- 
lation. He has built his fortune on the sure and 
honoralile foimdation of industry, economy, 
sound judgment and resolute action. He worked 
on a farm until eighteen years of age, when he be- 
gan stock raising on his own account. By the 
time he was twenty-one years of age he had ac- 
cumulated nearly five thousaml didlars. This 
was nearly sixtv-six years ago, and sixty-five 
years ago five thousand dollars had a larger op- 
erative power than it has now. ^^'ith this capital 



434 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Mr. Allerton purchased a stock farm in F'iatt 
county, Illinois, yet. even then. Chicago had its 
fascinations for Mr. Allertdu. He was a frequent 
visitor to the future metropolis Init always with 
an intent to sell or buy. He soon Ijecame famous 
as a successful breeder and raiser of stock. His 
farms increased in numl>er and his flocks and 
herds in value and magnitude. He was also a 
shrewd purchaser of real estate in what was to 
be the great city of the west. He was one among 
the first who discerned the needs and uses and 
profits of stock yards as centers of the cattle 
trade, and was among the earliest and most act- 
ive ])r()ni()ters of the system. And thus, by the 
exercise of strong industry, strict integrity and 
sound judgment. Mr. Allerton has achieved rank 
among the millionaires of the conntrv. 

I'nt it is not alone as a financier is he known 



ar.d respected. His political acumen is as re- 
markable as his commercial sagacity. Few 
mo\-es are made on the Republican checker-board 
of Illinnis withi.ut the knmvledge of Mr. .\ller- 
ton. He never has sought office, but in i8(j3 the 
Republican nomination for mayor was literally 
thrust upon him. He made a gallant figlit, but it 
was an off year for the Republicans, and that 
past-master of political tactics, the late Carter 
II. Harrison, defeated him. In the same year 
Mr. .\llerton rendered great service to the 
public as a member of the \\'orld's Fair 
directory. 

He is a xalued member of nianv social and 
political organizations and (me wlinse ad\ice is 
often sought in their management. Mr. .\ller- 
ton has been twice married and has twn children. 
Koljert H. and Katie R. Allerton. 



GEORGE M. PAINE 

OSHKOSH. WIS. 



The greatest sash and diKjr manufacturing in- 
stitution in the United States, and probably in the 
world, is that of the Paine Lumber Companv. of 
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, of which George M. I'aine. 
the subject of this sketch, is president and the 
actual as well as nominal executive head. 7"his is 
also a lumber manufacturing institution on a con- 
siderable scale, though its mills are operated 
chiefly for the supply of its factory. And so the 
buying of limber and logs, the management of 
sawmills and yards, of a great factory employing 
a thousand men. with side issue, such as hard- 
wf>od decorative work and glass, and the dispo- 
sition to wholesalers and retailers throughout the 
United States and in a number of foreign coun- 
tries of this enormous output, all comes under the 
.general control and all is harmonized, made effi- 
cient and profitable by the ability and wise guid- 
ance of George M. Paine. 



Sitting in his private office or seen anywhere 
about the great plant of which he is the presiding 
genius. Mr. Paine is always the same calm, 
thoughtful, deliberate man. He accomplishes an 
enormous amoimt of work l>v the a\'oidance of 
that haste which makes waste and by seldom hav- 
ing to revise a conclusion once reached or reverse 
a jx)licy once adopted. He keeps in personal 
touch with all the departments of his great ])lant 
but cinicerns himself very little about the details. 
He reser\-es his strength and his time for the 
larger affairs and for that general oversight w hieh 
is necessary to bring all parts of the great ma- 
chine into harmonious action. Therefore he is a 
man who always .seems to have leisure, though if 
one unnecessarily obtrude upon his time he will 
find that cotirteosly but firmly his visit is brought 
to a close. Yet his courtesy is not purely of a 
business sort but sjjrings from the natural temper 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



435 



of a gentleman, and all who reach his private 
office go from it feeling that they have met a man 
who is a gentleman, who is more than merelv 
ccjnrtcous, whd has a. genuine kindness of heart 
which finds necessary expression in his manner. 

George M. i'aine is of ancestry of which any 
American might be iinrnd. His father, Edward 
Lathrop Paine, was a native of I^omfret, Con- 
necticut, and helonged to a New England family 
that was among the early settlers of tliis cmmtry. 
His mother, Eleamir Ross, was a direct descend- 
ant of John iVlden and Priscilla, of Maytfower 
fame, and of John Hancock, one of the signers of 
the Declaration of Independence. She was also a 
direct descendant (jf Betsy Ross, one of the orig- 
inators of the American flag. 

George M. Paine was born at Orwell, Brad- 
fortl county, Pennsylvania, November ii, 1832. 
He received his academic education at Idmira 
Academy and at .\lfred Seminary, Alfred, Xew 
York. In his young manhood, with his brothers, 
lie worked in the water power sawmill operated 
by their father on the Canisteo' river, and they re- 
moved with him to the west in 1855. They took 
with them the machiner_\- for a sawmill, which 
was erected in Oshknsh and was the nucleus 
from which has grown the largest sash, door 
and blind factory in the world. Until 1882 
the business was operated as C. N. Paine & 
Company, Init in that year it was incorpor- 
ated as the Paine Lumber Company, with C. 
N. Paine, the elder brother, as president and 
George M. Paine as vice-president. On the 
death of the former in 1885, George M. 
Paine became president. The other officials 
of the company are J. W. Himebaugh, vice-presi- 
dent; A. B. Ideson, secretary; and C. R. Nevitt, 
treasurer. Prominent also in the busine.ss are 
Mr. Paine's two sons, Edward \V. and Nathan 
Paine. 

The plant of the Paine Lumber Company oc- 
cupies about sixtv acres in the west end of Osh- 



kosh, and George M. Paine lives in the same 
block w here stands the office. On this same sixty 
acres are the sawnnlls, the factory, the lumber 
yards, enormous warehouses and a Are engine 
house. 

The factory is a great three-story structure, 
which has been and is the scene of more interest- 
ing and profitable experiments in sash and door 
niamifacture than probably any other factory in 
the country. In it were first given form many of 
the ideas that have almost revolutionized the sash 
and door industry; and probably to-day, if per- 
mission could be secured to study the plant, there 
would be found in it machines and modifications 
of machines different from those found anywhere 
else. The Paine Lumber Company has always 
made a very close study of manufacturing econ- 
omy. Tliis has been seen in both the machinery 
equipment and the utilization of what in most 
plants is refuse. Practically nothing goes to 
waste, and there is not refuse enough to run the 
power plant and so coal is purchased. 

Besides the great institution at Oshkosh, there 
are branch distributing agencies and warehoitses 
at Minneapolis and Cleveland, Ohio, and selling 
agents in Pittsburg, New York city, Boston and 
London, England. The Paine Lumber Company 
was one of the pioneers in the export of American 
made sash and doors. What the capacity of tiiis 
great plant is we do not know precisely, but a few 
years ago its product was estimated at two thou- 
sand doors a day. They are of styles to meet 
every demand, including the export. 

Executive ability consists in no small meas- 
ure of the faculty of choosing the man for the 
work : and so. tlie Paine Lumber Company is ex- 
ceptionally well ecjuipped with men proficient in 
their various lines. Tliis is not only true of the 
officials of the company but of the mill employes, 
superintendents, foremen, etc. From the Paine 
Lumber Comi>any's plant and office have been 
graduated men who have made their mark in 



436 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



mechanical and manufactnring lines. George 
M. Paine is not a man who has aspired to 
any ])(ilitical preference or any social i)romi- 
nence ontside of that which would naturally coine 
to a man of his ahilitv and standing. Politically 
he is a Repul^lican. hut not an intolerant one. As 
a comparatively young man, in 1872, he was ap- 
pointed a delegate to the Republican national con- 



vention at Philadelphia which nominated Presi- 
dent Grant for his second term. At the age of 
twenty-four he was appointed on the military 
staff of Governor Alexander W. Randall, with 
the rank of colonel. He was married in 1865 to 
Miss Mardia Wheeler, of New Haven, Vermont. 
They have two sons, Edward W. and Nathan, 
spoken of above, and three daughters. 



DR. NOBLE MURRAY EBERHART, M. S., M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Dr. Noble M. Eberhart was born in Benton 
Harbor, Michigan, April _'i. 1870. and is a direct 
descendant on his father's side ivom the Eber- 
harts wild were fi>r luindrcds of years kings of 
Wnrti'iiburg. 

Dr. Kbcrharl was educated in 
the public schi'dls df buva. Wis- 
consin and lllin<iis and at the 
Uni\ersit\- nf Illinois, Lomltard 
Uni\'ersity an( 
graduating from the 
1888 with the degree of Bachelor 
of Science. He was eighteen 
\ears old at the time and was the 
graduate in 




Racine College, 
atter in 



youngest- college 



America. He took post-graduate 
work ill Lake Forest University. University of 
Mississippi. Hedding College and University of 
Chicago. He delivered the master oration at 
Hedding College in 1891, receiving the degree of 
Master of Science. His medical education was 
obtained at Bennett Medical College and in the 
Medical Dispensary of the University of Illinois. 
of liiith of which he is a graduate. 

Dr. Eljerhart ser\ed as an interne in the Co<ik 
C"< untv Hospital and has been a member of the 
attending staff of that institution for several 
years. He has also been connecteil with the Bap- 



tist ]b)spital and St. Gerard's Hospital at vari- 
ous times, and he is sixvken of as head of a new 
lios])ital n<iw organizing. 

Dr. Eberhart has been identibed as an in- 
structor and teacher with several of the leading 
metlical colleges, and is now professor of materia 
mcdica in the Chicago College of Nurses. At an 
early age Dr. Eberhart evinced a taste for .scien- 
tific study and for writing; has written a series 
of lx)oks on entomology and zoology, which are 
in use in the schools and colleges and considered 
standard works in their respective lines. 

On the strength of his researches in entomol- 
ogv Dr. Eberhart was in 1889 made a life fellow 
of the Society of Science. Letters and .\rt of 
Londoii. England. He is also a member of the 
\'ictoria Listitute or Philosophical Society of 
Great Britain, the Chicago .\cademy of Sciences. 
Chicago Medical Society. American Association 
of Life Lisurance Examining Surgeons, etc. 

On June 20. 1889. Dr. Eberhart married Miss 
Jessie Corliss Young, of Fort Atkinson. Wis- 
consin. Thev have one child living. Dorothy, 
born in i8(;i>. Their first child. Xoble .Murray. 
Ir., born in 1892. died in infancy. 

In 1 90 1 Dr. El)erhart gave up general prac- 
tice and now limits bis work to office consultation 
an.d general surgery. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



437 



MARCUS ALONZO HANNA 

CLEVELAND, (JHRJ 

Marcus Alonzo Hanna, junior senator from keenly feels that Mr. Sherman's eminent services 
the state of Ohio, was Iwrn at New Lisbon, now to the countr\- in securing tiie resumption of 



Lisbon, Oliio, September 24, 1837. sun of Leon- 
ard and Samantlia (Converse) Hanna. His 
grandfather was Imni in \'irg'inia and his grand- 
mivther in X'eminnt. His father 
was a pliysician and later a mer- 
chant of Cleveland. Ohio, w 
which place the family rem(i\ed 
fri.m Xew Lislion in 1S52, the 
father becoming identified at 
that time with the firm of Hamia- 
Carrettson & Company, wlmle- 
sale grocers. 

The son was educated in the 




specie payment and the firm esta))lishment of the 
nation's credit and honor was never adtcpiatelv 
recognized. 

Mr. Hanna took charge of Major IMcKin- 
ky's ]ireliminary canvass for the jiresidency in 
1X95 and '96, and so> well did he conduct it 
that he was chosen chairman of the Republican 
National Committee, and given entire conduct 
of the campaign, which he carried t(j a success- 
ful issue. An indefatigalile worker ami full of 
confidence himself, he inspired e\'erybo(ly about 
him with like faith and enthusiasm: moi-e a busi- 
ness man than a politician, he carried his business 



public schools of Cle\-eland, and at the age of methods into the management of the campaign, 
twenty entered the employ of his father's firm, eliminating" as far as possible the item of chance, 
assuming control of the business on the death He has always l^en an active business man, or- 
of his fatlier in 1862. This firm dissolved in ganizing and controlling many industries, em- 
1867. and he associated himself with the firm of ploying a large number of men, at one time as 
Rhodes & Com]>any. successors to Rhotles, Card high as six thousand (6,000). He has always 
& Company, the pioneer coal and iron finu of sought to obtain the confidence and respect of 
Cleveland. He retained this connection imtil his employes by dealing with them fairly; at all 
1887, when he became the senior partner of the times approachable, he has ne\er failed to con- 
firm, the name being changed to Al. A. Hanna & sider any grie\-ance or C(jmplaint that aiiy man 
Company, of which he is still the head. In 1887 in his cmi)l(>y had to make. This relationship 
he organized and e(piippcd tlie Cle\xland Tran.s- lias in political matters given him great infiu- 
portation Company, one of the largest lines op- ei;ce among- them becau.se he has secured and 
dating on the Great Lakes. Following the merited their confidence. 

organization of the L'nion .Xatioual Bank, of His entrance into political affairs grew frmn 

Clexeland. he was elected to its presidency in tlie conviction that all business men and intei'csts 

March, 1884. and still holds this office. He was controlling large industrial concerns shtnild take 

a delegate at large from the state of Ohio to the an active part in pu1)lic afifairs, and give their 

Republican national conventions of 1884 and country the benefit of their experience and judg- 

i8g6. and was a district delegate in 1888. A ment. It was this, in addition to' his personal 

warm friend of Senator Jc^hn Sherman, he was admiration and respect for ^Ir. McKinley. that 

energetic in advocating him for the presidential induced him to devote his whole time for more 

n.omination in 1880, 1884 and 1888, and still tiian two years to his nomination and election. 



438 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



On March 2, 1897, Governor Bushnell, of \va_\ Company and a director in numerous busi- 

Ohio, appointed him I'nited States senator to ness concerns. In 1885 President Cleveland 

fih the vacancy caused by th.e resignation of John appointed him a cHrector of tlie Union Pacific 

Slierman ; in 1898 lie was elected by the legis- Railway Company. 

Ir.ture to that \acancy. and also for a full term He was married September 2"]. 1864, to C. 

of six years, which will expire Alarch 4, Augusta, daughter of Daniel P. and Sophia 

1905. (Russell) Rhodes, of Cleveland. They had three 

He is president of the Clexcland City Rail- children, one son and two daugiiters. 



HON. JOHN C. SPOONER 

MADISON, WIS. 
By Hon. Frank Abial Flower 



The Spooners undoubtedly entered England 
from P'riesland. taking root near the ancient 
Roman town of Colchester, whence, later, they 
emigrated to Warwickshire and W^orcestershire. 

In 1637 some of the more militant members 
of the family left England and settled at Dart- 
mouth, Massachusetts, spreading thence to Plym- 
outh, New Bedfortl and elsewhere along the 
coast and in the eastern portions of the colony. 

The family, always patriotic, plucky and ag- 
gressive, was prominent in colonial affairs, act- 
i\e in the French and Indian war, in the fiire- 
front I if the Revolution (standing with the min- 
ute men at Lexington), effective in the war of 
1812, conspicuous in the Mexican war and first 
in the line of battle during the Rebellion of 
1861-5. 

John Coit Spooner was liorn at Lawrence- 
burg, Indiana, on January 6. 1843, where his 
father ( Philip Loring) was a distinguished law- 
yer. In 1859 the family removed to Madison, 
Wisconsin, in order tO' escape the destructive 
floods of the Ohio river and be near the Wis- 
consin State University for the education of the 
children. John C. at once entered the city 
schools, in which he was a ra|)id and comprehen- 
sive student. In i860 he began in the State Uni- 



versity to ]>repare to join his father in the prac- 
tice of the law. His record in that institution 
is one of acknowledged brilliancy. In debate, 
civil government, history, constitutional law and 
oratory he was the leader of his class. 

On April 22, 1864, the governors of Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin tendered 
eighty-five thousand troops for one hundred 
days, to be paid and equipped by the government 
the same as other volunteers, but to be credited 
to no draft and to receive no bounties. This 
brave offer, made in the face of the fact that the 
states had just comi)leted their quotas under the 
call for seven hundred thousand volunteers, was 
to be filled in twenty days from acceptance. The 
offer was accepted, and young Spooner. in order 
to assist in making Wisconsin's tender good 
within the brief time allotted, secured a recruit- 
ing commission, and, txarrowing three hundred 
dollars from a hxal banker, Mr. Hill : raised a 
company. Then, although entitled to a commis- 
sion as captain, he proposed that his entire class 
enlist as privates, himself included, and then 
choose officers by election. He demanded, how- 
ever, that the class should be graduated the same 
as though all had remained t<i the end of the term. 

Flis demand was granted and on May 13, 




^^x/K\A ^ ^Kyyhur^^-iyx^yU' 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



441 



1864, he enlisted as a private in C'lmipany D, 
40th Regiment. At the end of his term he re- 
enHsted as captain of Company A, 50th Regi- 
ment, "for three years or tlie war." 

I'rom Fort Leavenwortli, at the close of tlie 
war, his regiment was detailed to tlie Sioux 
country to watch for and quell Indian outhreaks 
— the most trying service a soldier is called ui)on 
to' pel form. He was hreveted major March 13. 

1865, and mustered out on June 12, 1866. 
Returning to Madison tO' study with his fa- 
ther, he was, in January, 1867, appointed private 
and military secretary to Governor Lucius Fair- 
child, with the rank of colonel. While holding 
this ofifice, in 1868, he was admitted to the bar, 
but immediately afterward was made quarter- 
master-general of the state, serving nearly two 
years, with the rank of brigadier-general. 

On May 30, 1868, Mr. Spooner made his first 
public address — the first Decoration day speech 
in the state. The ceremonies at Madison were 
elaborate and the attendance large and distin- 
guished. The young orator's speech was the 
only one that the newspapers of the day deigned 
to print in full. The opening sentence was, "God 
has crowded the g-lories of a century intO' the 
achievements of a decade." 

Late in 1S69 Colonel Spooner was commis- 
sioned assistant attijrney-gcneral of the state, 
but in 1870, on the urgent advice of his father, 
who was one of the seers and prophets of the 
legal profession, he abandoned the public service 
to settle in Hudson, Wisconsin, and devote his 
exclusive attention to law. 

He quickly sprang into prominence in his new 
home, aiifl before the end of a year had been 
nominated and elected to the legislature. 

In that body he was active, as usual, taking 
a decisive part in legislation for the disentangle- 
nient of muddles in taxation, court records and 
land titles; but his most lasting service was in 
conceiving and urging to final passage a measure 
levying a tax to lie added annually fo.'cver to the 
22 



State Uni\crsity fund income. This law lifted 
that institution from a condition of weakness and 
an;eniia and set it bounding along on the splen- 
did career of expansion and strength which has 
since characterized its history. 

Chronology may be set aside for a moment 
to say that Mr. Spooner was rewarded by Ijeing 
elcctetl regent of the State Lhiivcrsity in 1882, 
and that he received from her the degrees of 
A. M., Ph. D. and LL. D. 

Soon after settling in Hudson Mr. Spooner 
Ix-came connected with a case in which he made 
a national reputation among attorneys, courts 
and railway managers. It is that of Schulen- 
berg vs. Harriman, in 21 Wallace. 

General Harriman, as state timber agent, had 
seized Schulenberg's logs, which were cut on 
lands granted by Congress in trust tO' the state 
of Wisconsin for what is now the Chicago, St. 
Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway. The en- 
tire rqad was nolt built within the time fixed 
by the grant, and Schulenberg's attornej^s 
claimed that thereby the grant had been forfeited 
and that neither the land iK.r the logs cut there- 
from belonged to or were under the control of 
the state. 

Mr. Spooner contended that the failure of 
the grantees to construct the road within the time 
fixetl bv the grant could not affect the grant itself, 
but that forfeiture or reversion could work only 
l^irough judicial proceedings held for that pur- 
pose, or by means of an act of congress for- 
feiting it in exact terms or making other appro- 
priation of it. 

The lower courts held with Mr. Sptwner. 
Tlie case was apjiealed to the United States su- 
preme court, before which Mr. Spooner made 
an oral argument and filed a brief. Justice Field, 
dcli\-ering the unanimnus dpinion of the court, 
sustained the circuit judges. 

To the expanding empire of the northwest 
the results of this suit were of supreme im- 
portance. Few land-grant railways could be 



44: 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



completed witliin the periods named in the grants. 
W'liat are now great irnnk lines liad been parti- 
ally Iniilt, hnt their proniuters, discuuraged and 
frequently bankrupteil by the rule of the depart- 
ments that a line not completed within the time 
named in the act making the grant had forfeited 
the entire grant, had abandoned the projects. 

The decision put new life and progress into 
the great northwest. Projected lines were re- 
sumed and completed ; what is now the richest 
territory in the Union was opened up tO' settle- 
ment and intlustrial development; new cities and 
towns sprang into life and acti\ity and the entire 
nation was strengthened and enriched. 

^Ir. Spooner's victory seemed all the greater 
l)ecause, shortly before, Attorney-General \\'ill- 
iams had written an official (jpininn holiiing that 
non-performance of the terms of a land grant 
operated as a reversion of the grant, and the 
government and railroads were acting under 
that theory. Air. Spooner was employed in this 
suit by the state of Wisconsin, to receive $i,ooo 
and expenses if he won, but nothing if he failed 
— the governor having been advised by leading 
attorneys that the case was hopeless. 

Prior tO' this Mr. Spooner had been intrusteil 
with the legal business of the West Wisconsin 
and the North \\'isconsin Railway Companies. 
His energy and decisixeness, together with great 
natural legal ability and aptitude for railroad liti- 
gation, led to his ai)pointment as general counsel 
for those roads, which position he held until the 
lines were merged into the Chicago, St. Paul, 
Minneapolis & Omaha, of which he was elected 
and contintied general counsel until May 5, 1884, 
( n which day he resigned because the Vander- 
Irilts, having secured control of the road, recpiired 
him to bring what he tnld them was an unjust 
and unfoimded suit for $1,200,000 against 
Messrs. R. P. FU)wer, David Dows and H. H. 
Porter, stockholders in the corporation and his 
clients and friends. 

The new directors, in session in New York at 



the time, used e\-ery means to induce him to re- 
main as general counsel, offering him power to 
li.x his t)wn srdary and the privilege of remain- 
ing out of the case which he was refusing to 
bring. He not onl)- would not entertain their 
proposition, but t(.)ld the directors that he should 
defend I'dower, Dows and Porter. His resig- 
nation was, therefore, accejjted, and the suit, in 
his hands for the defense. " as entirely defeated. 

This action was new pioof of Mr. Spooner's 
high ideals of professional honor and personal 
friendship, for he left the "Omaha"' with feel- 
ings of keenest regret. He had helped to create 
and build up the great corporation; lie knew its 
history, workings and employes ; he liked that 
branch of his profession ; his associates were con- 
genial and he could have had any salary he might 
ask. Ne\-ertheless, he did not hesitate a mo- 
ment between these considerations and what he 
felt to> be professional honor and personal friend- 
ship. And thus, and not to become a candidate 
for the United States Senate, as has been al- 
leged, he left the "Omaha." 

From 1881 to May 5, 1884, Mr. Spooner de- 
voted himself almost entirely to the business of 
the railroad company, which, by consolidation, 
had come to control al)out eighteen hundred 
miles of road, extending through Wisconsin, 
Minnesota and Iowa into Nebraska and Dakota. 
He had sole charge of all the legal business, 
which was extensive and important. 

Grover Clcvekuul was elected and James G. 
Blaine defeated at the election of November, 
1884, and the Republican party was pretty thor- 
oughly disheartened. 

Mr. S]>ooner had participated very acti\-ely 
and effectively in the camjiaign, as he had done 
in every campaign of his partv since leaving the 
army, and the Republicans had elected a ma- 
jority of the legislature that was to choose a suc- 
cessor to .\ngus Cameron in the United States 
senate. 

There were several distinguished candidates 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



443 



fnr the liuiKU". liut its more progressive mem- 
liers declared lliat the waning fortunes of tlie 
part}- demanded a retnrn In the militant methods 
anil spirit fif i<S54. with younger and fresher 
ability in the lead. 

Those who advocated this view declared that 
jiihu C. Spooner fully met the requirements of 
the occasion. 

When tirst urged [n become a candidate he 
was very much frightened by the proposition — - 
being only forty-one, not having been largely or 
conspicuously in the public service and fearful 
lest the professional anti-railway and anti-cor- 
poration tactics of the Demncratic party would 
injure the standing with the people of any candi- 
date who had been the leading counsel of a great 
railroad corporation. He hesitated for some 
time, but, finally consenting, insisted that the 
campaign in his Ijehalf sliould be absolutelv free 
from derogatory or unfriendly reference to the 
other candidates, and that he should l)e required 
to make no pledges. 

No canvass was ever conducted with greater 
dignity, kindliness and effectiveness, the favor- 
ing tide growing stronger and stronger until the 
election, on January 28, 1885, when Mr. Spooner 
received seventy-six Republican votes, to forty- 
eight Democratic votes for General E. S. Bragg. 

He had never affiliated with any factinn but 
had always aided e\'er\'bod\- in his party who 
wished to be elected; hence his own selection left 
no sores or friction. 

The senate to which he had been elevated 
was one of al)ilitv. in which mcdiocritv could 
make ni> headway. His reputation as a very 
learned lawyer and effective orator had preceded 
him, and he was received with consideration and 
respect. 

His committee assignments were more im- 
portant than are usully bestowed iqinn new sena- 
tors; but that his brethren made no mistake was 
proven by the acknowledgement that, as chair- 
wnn of the committee on claims, his great in- 



dustry and legal acumen had saved the treasury 
more than thirty million dollars. 

Mr. Spooner's first speech in the senate was 
upiin the death of Vice-rresident 'J'. -\. Hen- 
dricks — like himself, an Indianian by birth, and 
a life-long friend of his father's. It was an in- 
ncwation in senate eulogy and attracted attention 
throughout the country f(jr its beauty, its sin- 
cerity and its originality. 

It is impracticable here to review Mr. Sixx)n- 
er"s first six years in the senate. He was in- 
tensely active, attentive and faithful to every 
duty and very inlluential in shaping important 
legislation. 

His principal speeches were in reference to 
relations between the senate and the executive 
department; interstate and foreign commerce; 
the admission of South Dakota to statehood — 
favoring it; the political outrages in Washington 
county, Texas; the Blair educational bill — op- 
posing it; placing sugar on the free list — favor- 
ing it; reciprocity as to articles not produced or 
made but needed in the United States in e.\- 
cliange for articles produced or made here but not 
abroad; on the Franz case from Aberdeen, I^lis- 
sissippi, which grew out of the failure of Sec- 
retary of War Redfidd Proctor to lower 4he 
flag on his department to iiaif-mast at the death 
of Jefferson Davis, who had served as secretarv 
of war prior to the rebellion; the federal elec- 
tions Ijill; the Columbian E.xposition ; the admis- 
sion of tlie senators from Montana — favoring it; 
the eight-hour law — advocating it; mortgage in- 
delitedncss: irrigation; the effect of free trade 
upon (ircat Britain, besides scores of running 
debates upon all sorts of suljjects. 

In 1890 W. D. Hoard was a candidate for 
re-election as governor of Wisconsin on an issue 
which alienated so many Repul^licans that he 
v.as defeated l>y thirty tlmusand, althnugh two 
years before he had been elected l)y over twenty 
th'usand majority. The Democrats also* elected 
a majority of the members of the state legisla- 



444 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WESi 



tiire, and in January, 1891, Colonel W. F. Vilas 
was chosen to succeed Mr. Spooner after March 
4 in the United States senate. 

Mr. SixDoner had been very popular in that 
Ix^dy and when he left it the members of the 
committee on claims tendered to liim one of the 
finest banquets ever g-iven in Washington, at- 
tended by the president and menil)ers of his cabi- 
net, the vice-president and many other distin- 
guished persons. The speeches in honor of the 
guest, especially those of Messrs. Evarts, Hoar 
and Hale, and by leading Democrats, were of the 
most complimentary character, lauding him as a 
senator, lawyer and man of great ability, fair- 
ness and integrity. It was a demonstration of 
lionor, friendship and respect accorded under 
similar circumstances to no other senator. 

Removing from Hudson to Madison in order 
that his sons might be at home while attending 
the State University, he at once resumed his 
law practice, which seemed to return to him full- 
swing where it left olT when he entered the 
senate. 

The legislature which elected his successor 
also reapi)ortioned the senate and assembly dis- 
tricts of the state. 

This reapportionment was of such a nature 
that the Republicans cliaracterized it as a "gerry- 
mander" — an iniquitous subdi\'isii>n that was un- 
constitutional and void. 

Suit was brought Ijefore the state supreme 
court, on the relation of a citizen, to set the 
apportionment aside. The case was nmcl and the 
majority of lawyers lielieved the court had no 
right to assume original jurisdiction of a matter 
involving a prerogative of a co-ordinate branch 
of the government. Mr. Spooner held the con- 
trary- view and made an exhaustixe argument 
both as to the unconstitutionality of the act and 
the power of the court to assume jurisdicion of 
a suit to set it aside. 

The unanimous judgment was in his favor, 
three members nf the court filing separate ()|)in- 



ions containing' additional reasons in support of 
their action. 

Governor G. W. Peck at once summoned the 
legislature in special session to enact a new ap- 
portionment, which was supposed to be accom- 
plished in July, 1892. However, as the second 
act had been framed in defiance of the opiniun of 
the supreme court, another suit was brought 
praying the court to forever enjoin the secretary 
of state from issuing any notices of election un- 
der it. 

The attorney-general (J. L. O'Connor) re- 
fused to appear and the court gave him twenty- 
days in which tO' answer in behalf oi the secre- 
tary of state. At the end of that time, as he 
still refused to appear, the court assumed juris- 
diction without it for the purpose of hearing the 
case on its merits. 

The two great questions were whether the 
court had the right to entertain such a suit at the 
hands of a private citizen, the attorney-general 
liaving refused to- assent thereto, and whether 
the law sought to be set aside thereby was un- 
constitutional. 

On these two' points Mr. Spooner made a 
great argumait. Senator W. F. Vilas being the 
chief opposing counsel. 

Again the court assumed original jurisdic- 
tion and again held that the apportionment was 
unconstitutional and void, forcing Governor 
Peck to call a second special session of the legis- 
lature for the purpose of a third time dividing 
the state into senate and assembly districts. 

Of course there were no fees in these gerry- 
mander cases. Mr. Spooner's responsible con- 
nection with tliem was merely a contribution to 
public justice and tlie welfare of the people and 
of his party. 

While these vital suits were pending Mr. 
Spooner was unanimously nominated by the Re- 
publicans for governor. He protested that the 
office was not one t(^ his liking: that it it were a 
matter of choice he would m H accept the office 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



445 



if it CDukl be tendered tu liini \vith(jut an election, 
and lie iuiped the nuniinatiun wtjuld gu tu some 
of tiie distinguished gentlemen who really 
wanted it. 

The answer was that he could poll more votes 
than any (jther man in the party ; that the strong- 
est men were needed to restore the party to 
jKiwer and it was his duty to accept. To this 
he could n(jt reply, and as no other person re- 
ceived any votes in the convention, he felt that 
the nomination was a command from liis party 
which he could not disobey. 

His campaign was altogether the most bril- 
liant in the annals of the state. He traveled 
night and day in all sorts of weather, speaking 
in mills, school-houses, lumber-camps, tlie open 
air and everywhere, to very large audiences. 

He was defeated, but cut the previous Demo- 
cratic majority of thirty thousand down to- a 
plurality of seven thotisand seven hundred. He 
has delivered many great and brilliant speeches 
in the United States senate and before the courts, 
but for elocjuence, feeling and effectiveness none 
that equalled the addresses made in this cam- 
paign to the people he had known all his life. 

In January, 1895, he received the unanimous 
Republican vote of the Wisconsin legislature for 
United State senator- — not enough, however, to 
elect. 

In 1896 the campaign for members of the 
legislature was made with the open understand- 
ing that if the Republicans should elect a ma- 
jority of that body, the people would e.xpect it 
to return Mr. Spooner to the United States sen- 
ate. The result was an overwhelmng victory, the 
opposition electing only thirteen out of one hun- 
dred and thirty-three members of both houses. 

Not only was there no Republican candidate 
against Mr. Spooner (an unprecedented situation 
in Wisconsin) but he had the unusual honor of 
receiving Democratic votes in the joint legisla- 
tive convention which, in January, 1897, elected 



him to succeed Senator William F. Vilas, by 
whom he had Ijeen defeated six years before. 

His welcome to the senate by those who had 
known him during his first term was indeed cor- 
dial, regardless of party afifiliations. His repu- 
tation as one of the best-equipped and most able 
and conscientious lawyers in the nation had 
grown more rather than less sul>stantial during 
his absence of six years so that by common con- 
sent he at once became the leader of the senate. 

One of his first acts after returning to his 
seat was reporting a bill to make balloting by 
voting machines for members of congress legal. 
He believed that self-regis'tering voting ma- 
chines, which would show the total number of 
votes cast the moment the last ballot was re- 
corded would tend to eliminate the possibilities 
of fraud. 

His first important appearance was in behalf 
of seating Henry W. Corbett as a senator from 
Oregon. The Oregon legislature of 1897 ad- 
journed without efYecting an organization and 
therefore without electing a successor to United 
States Senator J. H. Mitchell. Tiiereupon the 
governor of the state appointed Mr. Corbett. 

The committee on privileges and elections. 10 
whom liis credentials were referred, reported that 
Mr. Corbett lie not seated. 

In opposition tn the adoption of tliis residu- 
tion, in February, 1898, Mr. Sp(X>ner delivered 
the most exhaustive speech ever heard in con- 
gress on that subject. 

He pleaded for the elevation of the proceed- 
ings of the senate in such matters to the highest 
plane of judicial calmness and fairness, devoid 
of every personal and partisan feeling, and 
showed by an overwhelming array of authori- 
tes that the governor of Oregon had acted 
whollv within the provisions of the constitution 
in making an appointment to fill a vacancy in the 
United States senate caused by th.e inability of 
the legislature to elect. 



446 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Mr. Ccrljctt's credentials were rejected liy a 
\£ry large majority; but later the firce and 
righteousness of Mr. Spooner's arguments were 
strongly felt in the senate. The legislature of 
Pennsylvania adjourned in March, 1900, in dead- 
lock, without electing a successor to United 
States Senator ]\I. S. Quay. Thereupon the gov- 
ernor appiiintcd Mr. Quay to be his own suc- 
cessor. 

The credentials of the appointee being chal- 
lenged, the question of whether the vacancy that 
had occurred as stated was such as the g(.i\ernor 
had a right to fill by appointment, was again 
raised in the senate. 

As Mr. Spooner had always contended that 
any, except perhaps an original vacancy in the 
senate, could be filled by appointment by the gov- 
ernor of the state in which the hiatus occurred, 
he repeated, in April, 1900, and in some respects 
enlarged upon the argument which he made in 
favor uf seating Mr. Corbett. 

The powerful leaven which he had sown was 
beginning to take effect and Mr. Quay, who was 
defeated by one vote only, unquestionably would 
have been seated if he had been without enemies 
or political rivals in the senate. The leading 
lawvers of that boily voted with ]\lr. Spooner. 

Mr. Si)ooner's first argument of consetpience 
(111 the no\'el and vital (juestions growing out of 
the clash with Spain was made on Ai)ril 15, 
1898, in op])osition to the form of the resolution 
reported by the committee on foreign affairs 
declaring that "tlie people of Cuba are and of 
right ought to be free and independent" antl di- 
recting the president to demand the withdrawal 
or Spain from Cuba and, in case of refusal, to 
use the army and na\y to drive her from that 
island and the surrounding waters. 

He opposed the formal adoption of the great 
Instorical falsehood that Cuba was already free 
while with the same breath the president was 
being directed to use the army and navy of the 



United States to make her free. He also proved 
l)y internatii>na] law and jirecedent that it was 
beyontl the pro\ince of congress to make a formal 
demand upon any foreign nation — that such de- 
mand could rightfully emanate from the presi- 
dent alone. He also protested against forcing 
President ]\IcKinley to make war before we were 
ready to take the field, or before the possibilities 
of diplomacy had been exhausted. 

His next great speech was on "The .\cquisi- 
tion of Territory," in February, 1899. In it he 
re]ilied to those who pretended to hold that the 
government was without power to acquire terri- 
tory except for the purpose of erecting it into 
and admitting it as ecjual states of the Union. 
He urged the ratification of the pending treaty 
with Spain as abundantly right and lawful not 
only but as an act of humanity which the gov- 
ernment could not escape. 

He admitted that Hawaii was acquired in 
\iolation of the constitution, having been an- 
nexed by joint resolution of congress and not by 
treaty as cedetl conquest or prize of war; but 
showed that Spain possessed undisputed power 
to cede, and the president, by and with the ad- 
vice and consent of the senate, unquestioned au- 
thority to accept the Philii)pine Islands. 

The treaty was ratified and the supreme 
court confirmed ]\Ir. Spooner's contention that 
the president and senate possessed authority to 
ac(pnre the Philippine Archii>elago regardless of 
whether the United States intended to hold it 
as a mere dependency or ultimately to admit it 
to the union of states, or was witlnuit any in- 
tention precedent concerning it. 

In April, 1900, he made an argument in sup- 
port (jf the ix>wer of congress to legislate for 
the government of Porto Rico and, for the sup- 
port of that government, to le\v a tariff upon 
such products of the island as nnght be imported 
into the United States. 

Incidentally he assailed the absurd shibboleth 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



447 



that "the Ci-nstituticni fullows the flag" by its 
u\\ 11 life ami force, showing that if this cunten- 
tiun were true the constitutiun entered Cuba when 
the federal soldiers landed \\ith the flag at Santi- 
ago and, without anv aid frt)ni congress or else- 
where, had become the supreme law of that 
island — a manifest absurdity. 

In May, kjoo, he addressed the senate during 
three days upon a bill tO' suppress insurrection 
in and for the g"o\'ernment of the Philippine 
Archipelago. 

It was an exceedingly efifective and in some 
respects a startling speech because of its broad 
and unanswerable enunciation of the power of 
the United States to legislate in behalf of any 
territory or "place subject to its jurisdicion," as 
well as because of its merciless expcjsure of the 
crooked operations of Aguinaldo. He had 
gathered and read to the senate numbers of the 
letters, proclamatious and orders of that slippery 
adventurer, hitherto unknown to the people, 
which showed how the insurrection was planned 
and begun before the treaty between Spain and 
the United States had been signed, and how 
Aguinaldo attempted to induce the Spanish army 
( against which he had pretended to be in re- 
bellion with bitter hatred) to join with the Fili- 
pinos for the annihilation of the Americans! 

Again he held up to ridicule the Fourth-of- 
July rant that "the constitution follows the flag" 
and demonstrated Ijy all written laws, decisions 
and practices that the very situatii-n created by 
accepting the Philipiiines by treaty cession as 
prize of war was contemplated and amply pro- 
vided for by the framers of the constitution. 

.\ characteristic piece of legislation is termed 
the "Si)ooner bill." for th.e go\-ernment of the 
Philippines. It consists of but a few words and 
merelv n.iakes the ])resident the agent of congress 
to estal>lish the machinery of civil governmeut in 
those islands. 

This measure was Ijitterlv attacked bv the 



Democratic press and orators as making an 
"emperor" of the president — Ijestowing upon 
him unlimited autocratic ix>wer. 

The fact is it did the very opposite. Prior 
to the passage of that bill the operations of the 
president in the Philippines, as commander-in- 
chief of the army, were restricted b}- no limit in 
any direction except those imposed by the indefi- 
nite provisions of the law^s of civilized warfare. 

The Sjjooner bill cut off all of the president's 
powers and prerogatives in the Philippines ex- 
cept tho'se e.xpressly named in the bill — which 
were to appoint agents to establish ci\il order 
and government and a system of public educa- 
tion in that territory. 

Instead of creating an emperor. Mr. Spooner 
bound the president hand and foot with a rigid- 
itv that was known to no' predecessor in the 
White House except, perhaps, Andrew Johnson 
during the period of reconstruction; and the 
withes that he put upon ;\[r. INIcKinley are flrnily 
bmding- the bands of his successor, Mr. Roose- 
velt. 

In his remarks upon the various Philippine 
measures he took occasion to explode the "con- 
sent of the governed" nonsense ,as it had been 
used by the enemies of the administration in 
their efforts tt:> oppose and obstruct the operations 
of the army to suppress insurrection in those 
islands, and stated that we would have a perfect 
right to take and hold even Canada without the 
consent of its people if England, as a result .of 
war, should conclude to cede it to us. 

In February, 190 J, he reported for passage 
a bill to specially and heavily tax oleomargarine 
and other imitations of butter. In answering 
the argument of the opposition he declared that 
congress bad the un(piestioned i)ower to control 
the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine by 
special taxation and, in any event, he volun- 
teered that the makers of that article were 
wealthy and able to appeal to the courts if they 



448 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



believed the laW' lu be unconstitutiunal, wliile tlie 
hundreds of thousands of dairymen scattered 
over the country were unable to invoke the aid of 
courts for protection against the competition of 
fraudulent and spurious articles of butter. 

Mr. Spooner opposed the earlier bill provid- 
ing for the construction of the Nicaragua canal 
by the government of the United States through 
the agency of the Maritime Canal Company and 
without regard to the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 
which instrument he ileclared to lie in full force 
and effect. 

He favored the canal project but wanted to 
secure a perfect title to the lands necessary for 
its construction and to abrogate the Clayton- 
Bulwer treaty liy dignified and orderly proced- 
ure before embarking uimn a vast expenditure 
of money so far from home. 

Finally, in January, iyo2, the treaty in cpies- 
lion having been formally abrogated by the j(jint 
and friendly action of Great Britain and the 
United States, as he had suggested, and the Nica- 
ragua and Panama factions in congress appear- 
ing to be unable to comixjse their differences as 
tC' which was the more feasiljle route, he pre- 
sented a bill authorizing the president to ascer- 
tain, negotiate for and actjuire the cheaper, Ijet- 
ter and more easily maintained right of way. 

His last notable effort in the senate consisted 
of a speech made on Feliruary 22, 1902, in sup- 
pcjrt of the Philippine tariff bill. 

Once incire he took occasion to lay before the 
senate startling original documents proving the 
cupidity of the so-called Philippine leaders and 
the terribly disastrous effects upon American life 
and treasure of the efforts of those in the senate 
and elsewhere who' were discrediting the govern- 
ment, denouncing our operations to suppress ii; 
surrection and disorder and giving aid and com- 
fort and holding otit false hopes to the islands 
rebels. 

This portion of his speech was a terrible 
arraignment of the fire-in-the-rear party — alto- 



gether the most effective that had been heard in 
the senate. Amongst other things he saiil : 

"I stand here to say — and I say it regretfully, I say it with 
no spirit of unkindness in my heart — that in the main, in my 
judgment, the responsibility for the duration of this struggle in 
the Philippine Archipelago is upon the minority party in this 
country. 

"There never was. in my judgment, a wickeder thing 
than the prostitution of that situation to party purposes. 
Right or wrong, we had acquired the Philippine Archipelago. 
We had furnished an army to the president. He had informed 
us that he would employ that army to enforce the sos'ereignty 
of the United States and obedience to its authority in that 
archipelago. Then there was projected for party purpose a 
false and malign issue in the United States which could not 
fail, which did not fail, to prolong the insurrection and entail 
great cost upon the people of the United States in money and 
life." 

In March, 1902, Mr. Spooner made a very 
important rejiort, which was duly adopted, upon 
the assumed right of the house to participate with 
the senate in negotiating treaties which (like 
reciprocity treaties) affect the tariff. This as- 
sumption had long been a source of feeling be- 
tween the twO' houses, and prior to Mr. Sixion- 
er's rqjort was cpiite generally believed to have 
some ecpiitable foundation. 

He showed that it has nO' such foundation, 
and that the right to negotiate treaties rests ex- 
clusi\'elv with the jiresident and the senate, re- 
gardless of the tariff character of the instru- 
ments. 

He holds, also, that the clause in the Dingley 
tariff law limiting the time in which reciprocity 
treaties could lie negotiated to two years is in- 
valid, because congress had no authority to limit 
the constitutional powers of the senate, and its 
attempt to do so' amounted to nothing. 

His pre-eminence as a lawyer is so great that 
his mere report is regarded as settling this old 
and irritating controversy. 

He voted against the Hanna-Frye ship sub- 
sidy bill, saying he believed the proposed sub- 
vention to lie a mere gift, but was persuaded l>y 
personal friends in the senate to make no speech 
against it. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



449 



Mr. SpiiiHier never reads a speech in the 
senate or elsewliere, nor has it committed tu 
w riling. He makes sucii preparation as seems to 
be needed for great occasions, but always speaks 
extemporaneously and always gracefully permits 
interruptions, especially from opixinents or Dem- 
ocrats. 

During his principal speeches he is compelled 
tc> submit to more interruptions than are put 
ui)on all the other senators combined. 

Sometimes during a single speech he endures 
scores and even an hundred interruptions from a 
single Populist. On one occasion Senator Allen, 
of Nebraska, shouted to him: "You do not 
know what a Populist is." 

"Yes I do," snapped Mr. Spooner. "A Pt>ini- 
list is one who is opposed to everything that is, 
and in favor of ever}-thing that is n(»t, never was, 
and never can be." 

While he was pleading" for the admission of 
South Dakota, in whicli he was stationed as a 
soldier when it was inhabited by little else than 
buffaloes and wild Indians, he was interru[>ted 
by Senator Butler, who- declared that he was op- 
posed to a territory "trying to break into the 
Union." 

Mr. Spooner instantly retorted that Dakota 
had as much right to try to break into' as Sijuth 
Carolina (Butler's state) had to try to break out 
of the Union. 

Senator Tillman, of South Carolina, who 
jjursues Mr. Spooner with unnumbered cpies- 
tions, arguments and denials, on being called to 
order by the chair for iiis unparliamentary inter- 
ruptions, declared that he could not restrain him- 
self: that the senator from Wisconsin, by his elo- 
quence and smartness, "jn.st bamboozled the sen- 
ate and be [Tillman] was forced to get up and 
ex])ose the process of bamboozle." 

These tilts '.intensely delight the galleries, 
which are always filled when Mr. Spooner is ex- 
pected to speak ; and, instead of resulting in dis- 
comfiture, they are certain to rouse him to better 



effort and to bring' out more instead of to sup- 
pressing or breaking the force of the kind of in- 
formation which the opposition is seeking to 
destroy. 

For years Mr. Spooner was a member of 
every Republican state con\-ention in Wisconsin 
and three times a delegate tO' national conven- 
tions. He nominated Rusk for president in 1888 
and seconded the nomination of Harrison in 
1892. He has several times declined cabinet 
portfolios, twice declined appointment t(j the 
United States supreme bench, and declined Mr. 
Harrison's earnest request to take charge of the 
presidential campaign of 1892. 

He takes the keenest delight in the broader 
and hiigher duties of a senator, giving all im- 
portant subjects that ci>me before congress ex- 
hausti\'e and careful examination : but the stream 
of correspondence from his constituents and 
from the country at large has become so great 
that it is not unusual to see one thousand letters 
ijcfore him for dictation or signature. His offi- 
cial errands are numberless ; his callers come by 
dozens and scores every day and he is sum- 
moned to the White Hou.se more frequently than 
any other senator — one of the president's cronies 
excepted: an.d thus the slax'ish routine and more 
lietty affairs of his great office take so much of 
his time that to at all fulfill his high ideal of a 
senator he is compelled to work far intO' every 
night and to forego the usual rest of holidays 
and Sundays. 

Measured by toil, he has already lived more 
than a century: yet he is as youthful in manner, 
apijearance and heart as a man of twenty-five, 
and carries the immense burdens of his position 
as cheerfully and enthusiastically as though la- 
JMir were his chief pleasure. 

Although easily the leader of the United 
States senate, his great reputation in that body 
and out of it is that of a lawyer — profound, high- 
minded, judicial and conscientious. He has no 
ta.<te for politics and despises and always avoids 



450 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



the iic-tty cat-tigiits wliicli seem to be inevitable, 
under nur form i>f government, in the process 
of selecting- pul>he servants. 

His home is at MacWson, Wisconsin, in a 
large house with ample grounds overlooking the 
lake. He has not wealth nor even a competence. 
Indeed, as public men are now reckoned, he is 
poor. 

While in active practice his earnings are 
large, but they go to his family, wbich has al- 
ways lived in luxury. His personal habits are 
puritanically correct and his entire life has been 
conspicuously clean and high-toned. His wants 
are modest, his ways democratic. 



In September, iSfiy, he was married to Aliss 
Anna E. Main, a woman of brilliant musical and 
other accomplishments. They luue three sons — 
Charles P. and Willet Main, wlm are practicing 
their father's profession, and L'hilip L., \\lu> is 
just finishing his education. 

Recently there has been no small amount of 
discussicjn of ]\Ir. Spooner as a\ailable presi- 
dential timber of the very highest quality, but he 
says he has "neither the presidential nor any 
other bee in his bonnet." 

He is happy to serve when the people call 
him, but personall}- will not turn a single stone 
to secure the highest office in the republic. 



HON. ALEXANDER STEWART 

WAUSAU, WIS. 

lion. Alexander Stewart is one of the pioneer province, and during his young manhdod he was 

lumlx'rmcn of the Wisconsin ri\er \alley and engaged in lumbering and k>gging in the pine 

president of the .\lexander Stewart Lumber and spruce forests of Xew Brunswick. In 1849 

Company, one of the most important concerns of he mo\-eil to the United States, and after a Ijrief 

its kind in the great north and one of Wausau's slop at Blackberry, Illinois, he went northward to 

greatest financial feeders. More than half a cen- the little settlement of Big Bull Falls, in the terri- 

tury of Mr. Stewart's busy life has been spent in ti^iry of Wisconsin, now Wausau. Here Mr. 

Wausau. and the history of these years is one of Stewart, with his brother, started logging in the 

nicrited success. He has during that time l)uilt white pine forests. The business at first was 

i;p a great business and surrounded himself with small, but each year saw a substantial gain. The 

a host of friends. The various offices of respon- mill of the Alexander Stewart Lumber Company 

sibility and distinction he has Ijeen called upon is the oldest in the valley above Graiul Rapids. 

to fill have atlded to the profound respect in which It was built in 11^38 bv George Ste\'ens, who had 

he is held. In prisate life and jjublic office he is aeijuireil a title to the water power at this iK>int. 



always the same reliable, honorable man and 
citizen. 

.\le.\ander Stewart was born in York county, 
in the province of Xew Brunswick, Canada, Sep- 
tember 12, 1829, and is a son of Thomas and 
Jane Moody Stewart, of Scotland. He probabl\- 



The present mill bears very little resemblance, 
however, to that pioneer mill, for alxait all that 
remains of it is the site. The old Stevens mill 
became the property of John and .Mexander Stew- 
art in i87_^. In 1874 their business hail grown 
until thev could not attend tO' all the details and 



owes many of the sturily qualities of his nature Mr. Walter Alexander was taken into partner- 
to his long line of Scotch ancestry. His educa- sh.ip, the firm name becoming J. and A. Stewart 
tion was received in the schools of his native & Company. In 1881 the Alexander Stewart 





'-(^lyi/l^f^!^ 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



453 



Lunihcr Cnnipaiiv was inciirpnratcd. with Alex- 
anler Stewart as president. In iSyo the i)resenl 
commodious structure was 1)uilt. Among the 
mills of Northern Wisconsin it ranks as one of 
the largest, and its product is k-nown throughout 
many states. In additinn to the Wausau plant, 
the cimipany owns stock in sc\-eral luniher com- 
panies in Wisconsin and Michigan, many valu- 
ahle tracts of timber, a sawmill in Arkansas, 
stock in the \\'ausau Paper Mills Company and 
stock in a number of lumljer _\ards in Nebraska, 
Iowa and Illinois. 

In 1894 and 1896 Mr. Stewart was elected 
by the Republicans of the ninth congressional 
district for congress, and re-elected in 1898, each 
time by an increased majority. He was again 
offered the noniination but declined it. In con- 
gress he did splendid work on the committees on 



Indian affairs and im manufactures. On mat- 
ters pertaining to the northwest his ad\ice was 
sought and his opinions highly respected. He 
holds the gratitude of his district for securing 
adequate protection for the lum1)er industry. Mr. 
Stewart has dune nuich for Wausau and has 
lieen alwa_\-s ready to make sacrifices of time and 
mi ine_\' when a good end is to be promoted. Merit 
alone wins such distinction, and such a record 
does not need the complimentary notice of the 
historian, as it speaks for itself. \\'ith similar 
opportunities few men have accomplished so 
much and few men have been able to look back 
upon a life of usefulness conscious of the cordial 
approval of all, Mr. Stewart was married 
March 23, 1858, to Miss Margaret Gray. They 
have tlu'ee daughters now li\-ing, Margaret J., 
Marv E., and Helen G. Stewart. 



HON. JOHN J. FEELY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Hon. John J. Feel}*, member iif congress 
from the secimd district of lllinnis, was born on 
a farm in Curtis tnwnship. Will cnunty, Illinois, 
August I, 1875, being a son uf Jnhn 11. and 
Winifred (Pennon) Feely. 

He was educated in the inib- 

lic schools, Niagara University 

at Niagara brails. New ^'(lrk, and 

Yale Paw School, graduating 

with the degree of PP. P). in 

1897; was admitted tn the bar in 

Connecticut in 1897, mii\-ed ti.i 

Chicago and was admitted tn the 

Plinois bar in i8(;8, and ])racticed 

law, being a member (jf the firm 

of Murray & Feely from 1899 to 1901, and now 

is a member of the law firm of Blake & Feelv, his 

partner being Mr. Freeman K. Blake. 




Mr. Feely was elected to the fifty-seventh 
congress November 6, 1900, covering the term 
of 1901 to' 1903. Pie is a member of several 
associations and cluljs, also' of the Chicago Bar 
Association and Chicag'o Athletic Association, 
and has traveled extensively throughout the 
United States. In religious matters he is a 
Riinian Catlmlic and pohticallv a Democrat. 

Mr. Feely is not married and enjoys the dis- 
tincticn of Ijeing the youngest man in the fifty- 
sc\enth congress, and the youngest man ever 
elected to congress save John Young Brown, of 
Kentuckw elected in 1858. He has earned con- 
siderable ])rominence and called' special atten- 
tion to himself in the house of representatives 
by the prominent ])ru-t he took on the oleomar- 
garine bill February 11, 1902, 



454 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



WALTER ALEXANDER 

WAUSAU, WIS. 

There is no more jxjpular man in Wausau represented wIkjH)- Ijv its \\ ausau plant. It uwns 

tlian Walter Alexander, of the Alexander Stew- stock in several lumber companies in Wisconsin 

tart Lumber Company. He is known through- and Michigan, owns a valuable tract of timber 

out the state as a man of broad humanity, strici valued at several hundred thousand dollars, and 

integrity and firm principles. He counts among a sawmill in Arkansas ; has consideral)le stock in 

liis friends men of all ranks, and with his em- the W'ausau Paper Mills Company, and owns 

ployes he is as popular as with the citizens. He stock in a number of lumber yards in Nebraska, 

has a firm faith in Wausau and her people, and Iowa and Illinois. 

shows his home loyalty at e\-ery opportunity, and Mr. Alexander has always taken an active in- 

no movement is inaugurated for the common terest in politics and the issues affecting tlie wel- 

good but that he is a controlling spirit. He is fare of the state and nation, participating in the 

the active manager of the wide interests of the Republican party councils and working with zeal 

Alexander Stewart Lumlier Company. He is and enthusiasm for the triumph of his party's 

direct in method, a tireless worker and never re- principles. He has often l)een urged to become a 

laxes his energy until the matter in hand is com- candidate for office luit has always declined to 

pleted, and has justly attained a position of dis- accept nomination, except that he has served his 

tinction in the business world. ward as a member of the common council. He 

Mr. Alexander entered the firm in 1874. the was unanimimsly elected to represent the ninth 

firm name Ix-ing J. and A. Stewart & Company. congressional district as delegate to the Repub- 

In 1881 the Alexander Stewart Lumlier Com- I'can national convention which nonn'nated the 

])any was incorporated with a capital stock of late President ^^IcKinley the last time, and was 

five hundred thousand dollars, but there was no also appointed on the committee to notify him of 

change in the ownership or management. The h.is election at the meeting held at Canton, Ohio, 

officers first elected were : President, Alexander These honors were entirely unsolicited on his 

Stewart ; vice-president, John Stewart ; secretary I«rt and were in recognition of his valuable aid 

and treasurer, Walter Alexander. These officers to the party. He was recently strongly urged by 

have continuously been re-elected at each election liis friends to become a candidate for governor, 

since held. '*i't declined to enter the race because of business 

This lumber company is one of Wausau's interests, very much to the regret of his numerous 

greatest financial feeders, contributing in a most admirers who have the good of the part>- at heart, 

important degree to the industrial prosperity of Mr. Alexander has a just pride in a Scotch 

the city. During the sawing season about twn ancestry. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 

hundred men are employed about the mill, and 1849. He settled in \\'ausau in 1856 ;md worked 

the monthly pay roll is alM)ut ten tlnjusand dol- in the mill of which he is now part owner for 

lars, or nearly eightv thousand dollars for the fifteen years prior to becoming a partner in 1874. 

sawing season. The company has a large amount He was married February 11, 1874, to ]\Iiss 

of uncut timber in the valley, all of which will Sarah Strobridge, who was born in Pennsyl- 

come to this mill. vania. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander exert a wide 

The business of the company is by no means social influence. 




-ip by He,— -rylo^yfn:' Jf Ch=.:^aa 




C^^A-^^Ca^^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



457 



ORRIN N. CARTER. 

CHICAGO, ILL 



I he liislor)- uf such ;i man as Judge Carter 
increases the respect which hiwyers entertain for 
their profession. His record at the Ijar and 
bench lias been su clear, sO' irreproachable and 
So just and commendable that all accord hinv tlie 
highest respect and admiration, and at the same 
time acknowledge his superior ability in tlie in- 
terpretation of the law, his applicatioii of its 
[irinciples and his broad understanding of the 
science of jurisprudence in its manifold and com- 
l^lex departments. 

Farm life, limited means, a district school 
education, the labor of held and meadow, such 
were the conditions of his early years. He is a 
man whose professional career has been one of 
success from the beginning. His keen powers 
amount to almost a genius for the law. 

Judge Carter was born in JetYerson county, 
New York, January 22, 1854, and when ten 
\ears uf age accompanied his parents to Illinois, 
the family locating in Du Page county, where he 
remained throughout his minority, devoting his 
summer months to farm work and the winter 
months to pursuing his studies in the district 
school, where a strong desire was awakened 
within him to fit himself for life's responsible 
duties. At length, he was enabled to enter 
W'heaton College and graduated from that in- 
stitution in tlie class of 1S77. In order to meet 
his expenses while pursuing his collegiate course, 
he taught school and performed janitor service 
at the college. In the meantime, he had deter- 
mined upon the practice of law, and after grad- 
uation he came to Chicago and pursued his law 
studies under the direction of Judge M. F. 
Tnley and General I. N. Stiles. He was county, 
superintendent of schools of Grundy county for 
two and one-third \cars, and also during that 
time taught school. He resigned in 1882. Ad- 



mitted to the bar in 1880, Judge Carter began 
the practice of his profession in Morris, the coun- 
ty-seat of (irund\- county, Illinois, and two years 
later was appointed prosecuting attorney for that 
county, a position which he filled most creditably 
for a period of six years. His tastes led him to 
give attention more exclusively to the law, and 
by several railroad companies he was employed 
to condemn rights of way in the county. Since 
1888 he has maintained his residence in Chicago. 
One of the most important criminal cases with 
which he has been connected was that of the 
trial of Henry Schwartz, and Newton W'ott, 
for the murder of Kellogg Nichols, an ex- 
press messenger on the Chicago, Rock Isl- 
and & Pacific Railroad. Judge Carter was 
counsel on the part of the prosecution, and 
although opposed by some of the most brilliant 
lawyers of Chicago and Philadelphia, he suc- 
ceeded in having both men con\-icted and 
sentenced to life imprisonment. 

In 1892 Judge Carter was appointed attorney 
for the Sanitary district of Chicago (Drainage 
Board) and performed the duties of that position 
with, admirable tact and success from March of 
that year until the fall of 1894, when he resigned, 
having accepted the nomination of the Republi- 
can ])arty for the office of count v judge of Cook 
county, to which position he was elected bv a 
])lurality of over fifty-two' thousand votes. It 
was during his term of office as attorney for the 
Drainage Board that almost all of the right-of- 
way for that marvelous ship and drainage canal 
was obtained and later purchased, tO' the value of 
more than two million dollars. On November 
8. 1898, Judge Carter was re-elected judge of 
the county court of Cook county by a plurality of 
more than twenty-eight thousand votes. 

Judge Carter has won high encomiums from 



458 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



the bar, press and public. The amount of work 
devolving upon him as county judge is simply 
ent)rmous. There are more insolvency cases ami 
trials for insanity in his court than in all the 
other counties of the state cnmbined. The special 
assessment cases handled by this court also out- 
number all similar cases in the state, outside of 
Cook county, amounting to a sum from seven to 
fourteen millions per year. There are also a 
number of cases involving the right, and all 
these added to the general common law work of 
the court. lUit beside all these strictly judicial 
cases, the judge of the county court of Cook 
county is the real head of the board of election 
commissioners and has charge of the election 
machinery of the city of Chicago and the Un\n of 
Cicero, and the duties which arise in this con- 
nection are many and arduous. 

Jn his private, professional and official life 
Judge Carter has always been opposed to fraud, 



intolerate of wrong and always prepared for the 
defense of abstract right or of an oppressed in- 
dividual; and although his intellect is of a keen 
ar.d incisive quality, he jjrefers the arguments of 
right and ecjuity to any that savor of sophistry 
and subtleties. He has always taken an active 
interest in state and national politics, and has de- 
livered many addresses in advcKacy of Republi- 
can principles. His is a distinctively legal mind, 
\\e\\ trained in the science of jurisprudence. As 
a judge he is learned and upright, with a won- 
derful quickness of comprehension. His opin- 
ions are noted for their terseness, conciseness and 
brevity, and at the same time, for their compre- 
hensiveness and simplicity of their language. 
Judge Carter was united in marriage in 

1881 to Miss Nettie Steven, of LaSalle county. 

Illinois, daughter of Allen and Margaret 

Steven. Thfey have two cbihfren, Allen and 

Ruth Carter. 



BENZETTE WILLIAMS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Benzettc Williams, the noted Ci\il engineer The earlv davs of Mr. Williams were spent 
of Chicago, was born near West Liberty, Logan on a farm, where he was occupied in connnon 
county, Ohio, November 9, 1S44, and is a son work when not at school. His early inclination 
oi Asa and Edith (Cadwalader) Williams. led him toward the civil engineering field, and 
Probably the first ancestor to arrive in this with this in view he attended the Universitv of 
country was Thomas Macy. who Michigan, and was graduated in 1869. In that 
located in Salisbury, Massachu- _\ear he began his first work in the office of the 
setts, in 1640. Many other an- late E. S. Chesbrongh, who was for manv years 
cestors came to America between city engineer for Chicago. He remained here a 
1650 and 1700, among them lie- short time and took a position with the city en- 
ing- Robert Stanton. This branch gineer of Milwaukee, remaining during the year 
of the family settled in New Eng- 1870 and then engaged with the Milwaukee, 
land. The mother's branch lo- Lake Shore & Western Railway, serving two 
cated in Pennsylvania about 1700 years, then engaging with the Chicago, Burling- 
and the Williams branch in North ton & Ouincy Railroad Company. In 1872 he 
Carcilina in 1 7fio. Both Mr. Williams' grand- was made assistant engineer of Chicago, re- 
fathers were of Welsh extractiou on their fa- maining as such until 1878, when he was ap- 
ther's side, InU on their mother's were English. [lointed engineer of the sewerage department of 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



459 



the city. He later resigned and started in husi- In 1886-87 '^^ ^^'i^ 'i member uf the Drain- 

ness for himself and later huilt the water and age and Water Works Supply Conimissi(jn of 
sewerage system of Pullman. During this time Chicago. Mr. Williams is a member of the 



he was employed by a numljer of cities design- 
ing water and sewerage work and acted as con- 
sulting engineer for many companies and cor- 
porations. In 1890 he planned the sewerage and 
water works systems of the city of Seattle, 
Washington. 



Western Si^ciety of Engineers, and has been 
chairman of the .Nssociation of Engineering So- 
cieties from the time it was organized. He 
married Miss Lydia June Terrell, of Cleveland, 
Ohio. Seiitember _'", 1X71. and thev have foiu' 
children. 



FREDERICK A. SMITH 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

No matter what wealth one may possess in- Illinois, in 1835 and entered from the gox'ern- 
(lividually, or how fortunate he may be in his ment a tract of land that he still owns. In Cook 
ancestral connections, progress at the best can county \-oung Smith grew to manhood, attended 
only be secured through individual merit. The the public schools at Chicago, and in i860 en- 
legal profession demands a high order of aliility tered the Chicagcj University Prq>aratory de- 
and a rare combination of talent, partment. Two years later he became a student 
learning, tact, patience and in- in the university, remaining there until 1863, 
dustry. The successful lawyer and then throwing aside his books, enlisted as a 
and the competent judge must private in the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth 
n-i't only possess a comprehensive Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, serving in Missoin-i 
knowledge of law in its \aried and Kentucky until the regiment was mustered 
departments, but also must have a out of the service in 1864. Entering the uni- 
fund of general information that versity again he graduated in 1866, and from the 
will enable them to cope witli the Union College of Law — now^ the law department 
intricate questions involved and oi the Nortlnvestern Universitv — in 1867. Was 




4 



c 



determine w ith accuracy the points of law gleaneil 
from voluminous text books. Such qualities are 
characteristic of the professioiial record of Fred- 
erick A. Smith, whose splendid intellectual power 



admitted to the bar August 20, 1867. 

Entering upon his professional career he be- 
came a memlier of the law firm of Smith & 
Kohlsaat, which which he continued until 1873, 



has .gained him prestige among Chicago lawyers, after which he ])racticed alone until 1885. At 

ar.d to-day he is numbered among the distinct- that date, the tlrni of Millard & Smith was or- 

ively representative citizens of Northern Illinois. ganized, the senior ])artner Iieing S. M. Alillard. 

Mr, Smitb was born in Norwood Park, Cook That partnership continued until 1889, and the 

county, Illinois, February 11, 1844, and is a son following year Mr. Smith became .senior mem- 

cf Israel (1. and Susan P. ( Pennoyer) Smith, her of the linn of Smith, Helmer & Moulton. 

both of \\h(.m were born in the year t8i6; the Since that lime but one change in the firm has 

former in the state of New York and the latter in occurred, that being in 1895, when H. W. Price 

Connecticut. The father came tO' Cook count\', became a partner and the firm name then became 



460 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Smith, Helmer, Muultun & Price. Mr. Smitii 
engages in general [jractice t>l law, and his legal 
lore embraces a thorcmig-h knowledge of the prin- 
ciples oi jnrisprndence in all branches. His i>rac- 
tice is of an important character. His standing 
is high in the professioiial circles. In 1887 he 
was chosen president nf the Law Club of Chicago, 
and in 1890 was made president of the Chicago- 
Bar Association. In 1891 he was made president 
of the Hamilton Club. Politically Mr. Smith is 
a Republican. In June, 1898, he received the 
nomination for the position of one of the judges 
of the supreme cnurt, and is nnw (1902) the 



regular Republican nominee of the Republi- 
can party for judge. He is a man of scholarly 
tastes and is deeply interested in educational mat- 
ters. He has been a trustee of the New Chicago 
University since the organization of th^ institu- 
tion. He isi also a member oi the board of tnis- 
tees O'f Rush Medical College, and in addition, 

the Hamilton) Club, is also a memljer of 
■ the Marquette Club and the Union League, 

three of the leading political organizations of 

Chicago. 

Mr. Smith was married to Miss Frances B. 
Morey, of Chicago, in 1871. 



HON. WILLIS CHISHOLM SILVERTHORN 

WAUSAU, WIS. 



During most of the active years of his life 
Judge W. C. Silverthiirn has been a citizen of 
W'ausau, Wisconsin, contributing by his public 
spirit, his rare abilities and his high social quali- 
fications to the renown of the city of his residence 
and t(.) the dignity of his profession. He is re- 
garded as the leading member of the W'ausau 
bar. He is a man whose opinions are listened to 
with respect by all associates of the bench and bar 
of Wisconsin. He brought to the bench not only 
[jrofound learning but that which is quite as use- 
ful, a wiile c.\i)cricnce in affairs and an almost 
unerring judgment. He has been actively en- 
gaged in the practice of law for over thirty-four 
years, and his present en\iable position in the 
esteem of the general public has been gained by 
his sterling cjualities, which command respect 
both at home and abroad. 

Willis Chisholm Silverthorn was born at 
Toronto, Canada, .August 30, 1838; he was edu- 
cated at .Mbion Academy and at Wisconsin State 
Uni\ersity. He was a law student of the late 
General George B. Smith and Judge Arthur B. 



Brailey, of Madison, who for thirty years 
occupied the nninici[ial bench of Dane county, 
and never had a case reversed or remanded by 
the supreme court, and who was known all over 
the state as the "terror" to wrongdoers. 

Judge Sihcrtliorn moved from Jefferson 
county to Wausau in 1864 and opened a law' 
office. He was that year elected district attorney 
for Marathon county, and held that office for 
six years. He was a member of the assembly in 
1868 and 1874, and state senator in 1875 and 
1876. In 1873 Mr. Hurley was taken into i)art- 
nership, and the firm was known as Silverthorn 
& Iliudcy, and in 1883 Mr. Ryan came into the 
firm, and Mr. Jones in 1886. 

Judge Silverthorn w'as nominated for gover- 
nor in 1896 by the Democratic party, and his 
campaign is a matter of state history, he having 
run something like ten thousand votes ahead of 
the national ticket. A vacancy was created upon 
the circuit bench by the appointment of Judge 
I'ardecn to the supreme court in January, 1898, 
and Mr. Siherthorn was called to fill the same 








/^ 



Q^fAiAT^fi^i (/: 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



4^3 



])y Governor Sco-field, liis former oppiment in tlie in out-door sports, taking the greatest pleasure 

memorable campaign uf 1896. in horseback riding, and at the head of the John 

judge Silverthorn has been anidug the fore- Gilpin Club, a C( ngregation of dashing riders 

must in festering the line arts, and holds a high which wmild scr\e in a regiment of rough riders 

position in literary circles, being regarded as one with honors. 1 le stands ami ng the men of Wan- 

of the leading writers and speakers of the state. sau who have made it, and is one of its repre- 

He is warm hearted and companion;il)le, delights sentatixe men in the best sense of that term. 



OSCAR ZACHARY BARTLETT 



MILWAUKEE, WIS. 



Milwaukee, at one time, could boast of being 
the grain-shipping center of the United States, 
and even now its business in this line forms one 
of its greatest sources of wealth and activity. 
Its "Board of Trade" is as .important as any in 
the country outside of Chicago, and its brokers 
are among the city's most enterprising and suc- 
cessful business men. One of the leading of 
these is O. Z. Barlett, whose career as a grain 
dealer has been marked with great success from 
its Ijeginning. He is a whole-souled, genial gen- 
tkman. tpiick and active in business, and nuni- 
hers his friends by the score. 

Air. Hartlett was born January 31, iSOi. at 
Spring (ireen, Wisconsin, and is a son of [^eman 
Bartktt and Eliza Uai n.-ird-Bartlett. Leman 
liartlett was a .grain broker, and until recently 
was an acti\e member of the .Milwaukee Imard. 
Me was l>orn in \'ermunt. and is descended from 
an old Scotch family, whose rejjresentatives set- 
tk-cl in Vermont and other New En.gland states 
in the se\enteenth century. He moved to Wis- 
consin in 1855, and took up his residence in Mil- 
waukee in 1866. 

O. Z. Bartlett was educated in the public 
schools of Al'ilwaukec. and also attended the 
Milwaukee Academy. When twelve years of age 
he entered the employ of his father's hrni — 
Zinkeisen, Bartlett & Company, — as an ot^ice 
boy, working before and after school hours. 

23 



W hen ei.ghteen years of age he was given em- 
ployment with the firm as a clerk, and showed 
great ability in mastering the details of the 
business. In 1886 the firm of Zinkeisen, Bart- 
lett & Comi)any was dissolved, and Mr. Bartlett 
became a partner in the firm, which his father 
then organized, — L. Bartlett & Son. This part- 
nership existed until July. 1901, when L. Bart- 
lett retired, and O. Z. Bartlett organized the 
present stock company, L. Bartlett & Son Com- 
panv, of which he is the president. This con- 
cern is the largest general grain brokerage house 
in Milwaukee, and does both an option and a 
receiving and shipping business, combining all the 
branches of grain brokerage. Not since the estab- 
lishment of this business in 18O7 has the house 
ever suffered financially, Init c\en in seasons of 
extreme financial dejiression it has always pros- 
pered. It has branch houses in Chicago, Minne- 
apolis and St. Louis, and its already large cli- 
entele is constantly increasing. 

Besides bein.g president of the L. Bartlett & 
Son Company, O. Z. Bartlett is a partner in the 
firm of F. R. Morris & Company, of Milwaukee, 
w ho operate the Northwestern Marine Elevators. 
two in number. Mr. Bartlett is a memljer and a 
director of the Chrnnber of Connnerce. and is on 
several important committees. He is also a 
member of the Chica.go Board of Trade. 

Mr. Bartlett belongs to the Milwaukee Club. 



464 



PROMINENT MEN OE THE GREAT WEST 



tlie Country Clul). the Dcutschor Cluh. tlie .Mil- 
waukee Yacht Club, tlie Milwaukee Athletic As- 
Sdciation and tiic Chicaso Athletic Association, 
lie is also an l'".lk. 

In iSSo 1k' was married to Miss Annie I.. 
ShalTer. dau!;hter of Cajitain |. |. ShalTer. a well- 



known southern gentleman, and a prominent 
sugar planter of Louisiana. Mr, liartlclt's home 
overlooking Lake Michigan, in the fashionable 
East Side residence district of Milwaukee, is one 
nf the most striking architectm-al structures in 
the cilv, and is "eneralh- admired. 



CHARLES VALENTINE WESTON 

CHICAGO. ILL. 

I'harles X'alentine Weston was Ixirn I'ebru- pany, and retained this position until the earl\- 

a.ry 14, li^^J. at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and is a part of 1888. lie then came to Lliicago, and 

Son of jolin Weston ;md Katharine (Clark) soon after his arri\;d was employetl bv the citv 

Wtstcju. His father is a retiied contractor, now of J^ake \'ie\v to take charge of the construction 

a resident of Chicago. .Mr. Weston is descended of the in-take crib and water-su]iplv tunnel under 

from an old I'.nglish family, some Lake Michigan. While this work was being 

_ membei's of which came to .\mer- done the cit\- of Lake \'iew was annexed to Chi- 




ica with the Pilgrim ['"atliers and 
landed nu I'Kninulh Rock. Ills 
father, Mr. John Weston caiue 
to the Cnited .States in 1854, and 
stltk'd in .\'ew ^'nrk, .and in 
i85() came west and Idcated at 
KalauKi/i 10, Michigan. 



c.ago, and Mr. Weston was retained in ch.arge of 
the work until ['"ebruary, 1890, when he resigned 
to take ch.arge of the construction of the tunnel 
for tlie West Chicago Street Railway, under the 
Chicago ri\er and the yards of the I'ennsyhania 
k.'iilro.ad. This was a \ery iiiijjortant piece of 
work, .and inxoKcd the construction in open 
It was in the public schools of trench of a tunnel of thirty feet clear span and 
K.al.am.azoo that .\lr. Weston re- marly si.xteen hundred feet in length, ])assing 
ceivetl his early education, and in 1878 he entered under large liusiness blocks. This splenditl engi- 
tlie employ of the Te.xas 'i'runk Railway Com- neering work occupied neaii\- all of Mr. Weston's 
p.any as a transitmau in the surveying coq)s. time until 1894, when it was completed and he 
I wo years later he was .issistant engineer in the .accepted the [xisition of chief engineer of the 
eni]>loy of the .Missouri. K.uisas & Te.xas Rail- Xortluvestern Elevated Raih-oad Company of 
read, .and was located in Tex.is until 1881, when Chicago. This elevated road is gener.allv con- 
lie accepted a similar iKvsition with the Kansas sidered one <if the best svstems in the countrv. 
City, Springfield S: ]\Temphis Railroad Company. and was one of the several systems owned by 
In I 88j he was assistant engineer of the Chicago Charles T. Yerkes. Mr. Weston was al.so the 
& Northwestern Railroad Comi)any, and in 1884 dvief engineer for the Lake Street, and ha<l 
assistant engineer of the Kansas City, Clinton & charge id' the betterments and the extension of 
Sjiringfield Railrorul C"onipany. In 1886 be be- that line. He also constructed, as chief engineer 
came division engineer in charge of construction of the l^nion l^Jevated Railroad Company, the 
of the Gulf, Colcirado & Santa Ee Railroad Com- t'anuius "loop" wherebv the various elevated 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREA'l' WEST 



465 



railrnads make tlic* circuit n( the heart ul C'liicaycj. 
While in the eni]>lny ot' the Xnrthwestern I'llevat- 
ed ('iini]>aiiy, Mr. W'estnn imt imly had chargeof 
tlic ccJiistructiini and de\ einpinenl l)iil desit^Mied 
llic nvllino- stock lil" this i'( ad. in |amiai"\-. hjoi. 
.\ir. Weston se\ered liis cnnneclinns in nrdei" In 
enter intn l>nsiness with his hrntlier (ieiiri;e, wiu' 
hkew'ise is an engineer of niucli al>ilit\'. The lirni 
formed is known as tlie Weston Jirotliers, and 
ah'eady their Inisincss as con.snlting and coii- 
stnicting engineers lias hecome one of the largest 
in Chicago. The new lirm is already assuming 
a position of considei'ahle ini])orlanee. 



.\s consulting and contracting engineers, the 
lirm inidertakes the estimating, drawing of plans 
and specilications and the super\ision of the work 
geneiTill\- handkd 1i\' engineers. particularK- in 
the line ol steam and electric r;iilw;i\s. liridL;es. 
l.uildings. foundations, tunnels, etc. 

Charles \'. Weston is a niemher of the .\mer- 
ic'ui Society of Ci\il luigineers. the Western So- 
ciety of Ci\il I'jigineers and the Technical Club 
of Chicagi). lie was mrn"ried in i(SS() to Cath- 
erine Dyer, of White Water, Wisconsin, and they 
ha\e one child, I'dorence Weston, now ten years 
of ap-e. 



GEORGE WESTON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



(Jeorge Weston was horn jauuar\' 30, iSdi. 
at Kalamazoij, .Micliigan. and is a son of John 
Weston and Katherine (Clark) Weston. The 
family is of I'jiglish ile.seent, although branedies of 
it number ;unong- the oldest American families. 
John Weston is a retired con- 
tractnr. now a resident of Chi- 
cago', and came toi .\merica in 
1854, settling in .\'ew ^'ork. and 
t\yo years afterward in Michigan, 
(jeorge Weston receiyed his 
early education in Kalamazmj, 
Alichi^an. ruid in iSSo joined the 
engineering corps of the Mis- 
souri, Kansas & 'i'exas Railroad 
Conipany, as a roilman, and as- 
sisted in the w ■ rk r.i construction south fmni 
iMtrl Worth, Texas. I )nring the pti'i'id belwt'en 
tlie years of iSS_> and iS,S3 he was engaged in 
nicrcantile business. In the fall of 1885 he en- 
tered the euii)loy of the Cnlf. C'olorado & Santa 
h'e Railroad Cinipau}'. as rodman with their en- 
gineering corps. He was advanced successi\el\ 
to instrument m:ni and .assistant engineer in 




charge of construction, and |-eniaiued in this com- 
pany's cm])loy until the spring of iSSj, when he 
resigned his position tii C(.me to Chicago and en- 
ter the service of Charles T. Verkes, \yho had 
tlien just commenced the work of constructing 
the North Side Cable lines. Mr. Weston had full 
charge of the coustriicliou of the Clybotu-n .\ye- 
ni;e Cable Cine, the .Milwaukee ,\\enue Cable 
l.ine and the lilue Island .\\'euue and llalstml 
Street Cable Lines for the .\orth and West Chi- 
cago Street Railroads. L'uder his sui)er\ision 
about se\-enty-ri\e miles of h^rse-car lines of the 
Wtsi ('hicago .Street l\ailri ad Com])au\- were 
rebuilt into electric lines. In July, |8(/), Mr. 
Weston resigned froni the em])loyment of the 
street railway comp.anies ;nid look a jxosition as 
manager of the ci luslruction de]iartment with 
.Vaugle, llolcoinb iS: ('om])an\', pi'onioti'i's ;md 
builders of electric and steam r.ailri lads. While 
associated with this lirm, in iNijd and i8()j, he 
had charge of the construction of the .Snburb.au 
K'ru'lroad Com|),my. of Chicago. This work ii.- 
\iil\x'd the electrical c(piipnient of several miles 
of steam ro;id ])esicles a long line of hea\'v elec- 



466 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



trie mad uf tlic street-railwav t}i)e. He also had 
charge of tlie i>peration of tliis road. During the 
time that Mr. Weston was engaged on tlie coii- 
struction of the Suburban Raih-oad Company, of 
Chicago, he had charge, as suijerintendent, of the 
operation of the old Chicago Terminal Transfer 
ixailway. the greater portion of which was 
ciranged from a steam to an electrical road. In 
1898 he was given the general management, for 
Naugle, Holcoml> & Company, of all the con- 
struction work of the Tennessee Central Rail- 
way. This work he conipleted intiv Monterey, 
Tennessee, in October, 1900. The work of con- 
struction of the Tennessee Central Railway was 



generally admitted to ha\e Ijeen an engineering 
WDrk of considerable magnitude. He retired 
from the employ of Naugle, Holcomb & Com- 
pany to join the firm of \\'eston Brothers, with 
his brother, Charles \'. We,st<m, wlio gave 
special attention to the examination of and 
reporting uptm steam and electrical railwa\- 
properties, electric light, gas and other light 
plants. 

George Weston is a member of the Western 
Society' of Civil Engineers, and belongs to the 
Chicago Athletic .\ssociati<in. He was married 
in 1893 t" Sadie S. Sanborn, of Chicag-o, whose 
demise occurred .\pril 3, 1899. 



MICHAEL ANGELO HURLEY 

WAUSAU, WIS. 



Mr. M. A. Hurley, of the well-known law 
firm of Ryan, Hurley & Jones, of Wausau, Wis- 
consin, stands high at the bar of his state, and is 
well known for his thoroughly conscientious and 
reliable character, profound legal knowledge and 
great success. Although he has not confined 
liimself to any single department of the law, he 
e.vcels in court trials, is greatest before a jury, 
and is regarded throughout Wisconsin as one of 
the best and most interesting public speakers in 
the state. As a lawyer, orati>r and as a citizen he 
fills a conspicuous place. 

Mr. Hurley was born at I'.ytown, now Ot- 
tawa, Canada, October 22, 1840. His father, 
William Hurley, was a graduate of Trinity Col- 
lege, Dublin, Ireland. Mr. Hurley's grandfather 
on his mother's side was a lieutenant in the 
famous regiment, the "Scotch (irays," in the 
Briti.sh army, and was killed at the battle of 
Waterloo. 

The family moved to Ogdcnsburg. New- 
York, and tliere Mr. Wiilliam Hurley died in 
1850. leaving his wife so prostrated at his death 



that she was for several years an invalid. Thus 
bereft of parental care, yx)ung Michael was left 
at ten years of age to shift for himself. During 
liis childhood he had the benefit of his father's 
tutorship, anil reeei\'ed from him his first initi- 
ation into the study lA Latin and Greek. He 
found \\x)rk on a farm in the vicinity of Ogdens- 
Ijurg, immediately after his father's death, where 
he remained until he was sixteen, and ol)tained 
the benefits of the pulilic schools in the vicinity. 
He then started out as a sailor on the great lakes, 
using the money earned to educate himself. In 
December, 1856, he went to Schoficld, Wiscon- 
sin, and worked in a sawmill, and with the four 
hundred dollars thus earned went ti_) Stevens 
Point and found a position where he could work 
for his board and have plenty of spare time to 
study. He employed two local clergymen, one to 
teach him Greek and the other Latin, and the 
principal of the high schi>o! to give him a course 
of mathematics and the higher branches, pur- 
suing his efiforts in this manner for several years, 
teaching school himself part of the time. In 




(l ^, cnhL-^-^x^i^iy 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



469 



1861 lie went tn Cliicago and olitaincd a situalicni 
as a hotel clerk, and studied for six years, taking- 
private lessons from the professors of the old 
Chicago University, mastering the entire scien- 
tific and literary courses, lie then went to Ber- 
lin, Wisconsin, and studied law with liis present 
law partner, Mr. R}an. Jn i8()y he was admitted 
to the bar at Dartford, Green Lake county. He 
began the practice of law at Berlin, where his 
abilities were quickly recognized. He was elected 
district attorney and held the office about a year, 
wlien, appreciating the great resources of the 
Wisconsin valley, he resigned his office, went t'> 
Wausau, and formed a partnership with Air. 
Silverthorn in 1873. The business was very suc- 
cessful and established a name sccnnd ti) nune in 
the valley. About 1881 they were employed liy 
the original owners of the Gogebic iron lands to 
recover the titles which were apparently hope- 
lessly lost through tax titles. The litigation was 
carried on with masterly skill, and bmuglit suc- 
cess to their clients and one-fourth interest to 
themselves, which thev still own, in this valu- 



able tract of iron lands. I'heir clients' grati- 
tude was ;dso shown in naming the ci[\' oi 
Hurley. 

Jn J883 Mr. Kyan was admitted intoi the lirm, 
and Mr. Jones in i88(). .\ few years later Mr. 
Hurle)- mo\e(l to California to take charge of 
the Hurley (iold Mining Company, .\fter re- 
mainmg in California some years, he opened a 
law office in San Francisco, and practiced law 
there about two years. In the fall of 1897, he 
returned to Wausiui and rejoined his old firm. 
In 1898 the senior member of the firm, Hon. W. 
C. SiKerthorn, was elected judge of the circuit 
court, and the firm was re-organized under its 
present name. 

Mr. Hurley was luarried to Miss Clara H. 
Leonard, June 16, 1874. Mrs. Hurley is a charm- 
ing' and popular lady ; she is the president of the 
Ladies Auxiliary Society of the \\'ausau Ad- 
vancement Association. They ha\e one child 
living, a son, Judd. An older son. Fred, a \erv 
promising young luan, died while the familv lived 
in California. 



DAVID MELVIN DURFEE 

PHILIPSBURG, MONT, 



Judge Da\-id M. Durfee, county attorney of 
(iranite county, Montana, was born July 22. 
1855, in Schenectady county. New York, and is 
a son of David Potter and Margaret Eliza (Rec- 
tor) Durfee. His education was received at the 
Schoharie Academy, of Schoharie, New York, 
and in 1878 he entered the law oftice of Nathan 
P. Hinman, remaining a year, when, because of 
lack of funds, he taught school in Somerset 
county, I\Iaryland, remaiuing three years, and 
in the meantime reading law in the office of Levin 
T. Waters, and was admitted to the bar at .\n- 
napolis, Marvland, in i88_', and at once started 
for Montana, where he secured a |)ositii)n as 



teacher in the public schools of Phili]).>])urg, and 
later practiced law. In 1884 he was the nominee 
for ]irobate judge, i)ut suffered defeat. In 1886 
he was elected first county attorney of Deer 
Lodge county. Montana. In 1889 elected 
u'.ember of the constitutional convention, and in 
the fall of that year was elected district judge 
of the third judicial district of Montana, being 
the first judge electetl for that district. In 19OU 
he was elected county attorney for Granite coun- 
X\ Montana, which office he still holds. Judge 
Durfee is a member of the Selish Tril)e. No. 14. 
Improved ( )rder of Red Men. and holds the office 
of senior sagamon. He is a Democrat and Cath- 



470 PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 

(ilic, and is a recognized leader dt his pnlitical and is liiglilv ])rized 1)v tlic jinlilic. lii-> nmn dc 

party. phuiie is Gerald Hart. 

Judge Durfee was married Fel)ruary i, 1888. Judge Durfee was born and raised a farmer, 

at tlie Cathedral, by Cardinal Gibbons, to Miss and still retains a love for tilling the soil. He 

lunelie J. Irving, daughter of Thomas J. Irving. owns a sniall farm near Philipsburg. .Mnntana. 

a manufacturer, oi Baltimore. Maryland, and a His famil\- residence is in Missuula. Alnntana. 

noted writer of romance. His ])rincii)al book, a '{"here are fnur children, three daughters .nnd a 

novel entitled "In the Rapids," wdu much praise son. 




JUDGE T. C. RYAN 

WAUSAU, WIS. 

Judge Ryan, of the l;i\\ firm df R_\an. Hurley with his lirothcr John, two years his senior. At 
tS: Jones, of W'ausan. W'iscuiisin, deser\-e(ll\ occu- lirst the boxs hired out to work on a farm, but 
])ies a ciinimanding pnsitinn ;unong the niemhcrs soon became apprentices to the shoemaker's trade, 
cif the bench and l>ar (pf his state. The ]il;ice be and thcr'eafter. until iSOi, worked at their trade 
h;is W(in in llie legal prt)fessi(in is accorded him in the winter time and ;it farming during the re- 
in recognition of his ability, and niainder of the \ear. 

the position he occupies in stxial b'rom the spring of 1861 to the spring of 

life is a tribute to his genuine 1863 he and his Ijrother served as privates in 

worth and true nobleness of char- Com])anv G, b'ifth Wisconsin Infantrv. The 

acter. A lilieral education fitted ])criod of his ;u"m\- life gave him much time for 

him for his calling. In the early stud}', which was devoted to the langtiages, 

da_\s of hi> practice he was an Latin, (ireek, German and I'^rcnch. He received 

^eiTtj'iive jury lawyer, but later he three wcvunds while in the army, the last two in 

turned his attention to e([uit\ the same battle, one of which was so serious as to 

practice and real-estate law, in which he has \von result iiu his honorable discharg-e from the serv- 

fame and met with great success. He has fine ice. He then returned to his former place of resi- 

liter.ary ability and has done a great amount of dence, Berlin, \\'isconsin. While in the army he 

literary work, and owns a private library of about sa\'ed sufficient from his bountx", pav and clotliing 

lifteen hundred \-olumes, the gradual accuniula- allowance to sup])ort him din-ing his preparation 

tion of many years. He spends many of his for the bar. He studied law in the office of 

pleasantest hours with his books. Truesdell & \^'aring■, at Berlin. In the fall of 

Thomas Curran: Ryan was born at I'tica, Xew 1865 he was admitted to the b.ar at Dartford, 

^'ork. July _i. 1S41. His ])arents died during his (ireen Lake comity. He then taught school one 

childli I. ;nid his earl\- life was spent upon a term, rmd in \H()6 began tlie ])ractice of law at 

farm in the town of Henungford, Lower Can- licrlin. During his career in that city he was 

ada. .\s a child he had a great desire for an edu- elected district attorney for three successive 

cation, and was encouraged hy his grandfather terms, and then county judge. His business in- 

and l)\- an uncle. James Ryan, both men of edu- creased and he became an equal ])<artner with Hon. 

cati<in. He came to Wisconsin in the fall of 1853 George D. Waring, his legal tutor, and one of the 



i'RU.MIXENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



471 



best lawyers in the state. In 1881 he made up 
his mind that tiie Wisconsin \'alley was a prnni- 
ising section u\ the state, moved to W'ansau and 
l)ccanie the law partner of Xeal Brown. In 1882 
he nio\ed to Merrill, and soon afterward formed 
a law ])artnershi]) with George Curtis, Jr., the 
two laying the foundation of a prosperous law 
l)usiness that is still carried on by the firm of 
Curtis, Reid, Smith & Curtis. In December, 
1883. he returned to W'ausau and became a part- 
ner with Sil\'erth<irn & Hurley, under the tirrn 
name of Sih'erthorn, Hurley & Ryan. 

In the spring of 1898 the senior member of 
the firm, II (ju. ^\'. C. Silverthorn, was elected 
judge of the circuit court, and the firm was re- 
organized under its present name of Ryan, Hur- 
ley & Jones. The firm has a valuable clientage 
and an e.xtensive practice, the result of more than 
thirty years successful business, coupled with fine 



legal ability, reliability and strict adlierence to 
principle. 

]\lr. Ryan is a logical thinker, a lluenl writer, 
and has made frequent contriljutions of interest 
to the puhhc press. At all times and in all places 
he commands the esteem of his fellow men by his 
upright life, his versatility and uniform courtesy. 

Mr. Ryan was married at Berlin, Wisconsin,, 
to^ Miss Emma E. Thurston, of that city, a 
daughter of Hartley Thurston and .\rminda Rob- 
inson Thurston. ^Irs. Ryan is a lad_\- of culture, 
fine literary tastes and musical talents. She is a 
descendant of the old colonial family of Thur- 
stons, and her mother was a first cousin of Hor- 
ace Greele)', the celelirated philanthropist and 
founder ijf the New York Tribune. Thev ha\'e 
an interesting family of children, Margaret, 
Thomas Hartley, Marion Eva, James Thurston 
and Winnifred Martha. 



GRANVILLE DUANE JONES 

WAUSAU, WIS. 

Mr. G. D. Jones, the junior member of the his wa_\- through the Wisconsin State Lhiiversity, 
law firm of Ryan, Hurley & Jones, of Wausau, where he graduated with high honors. He re- 
Wisconsin, is a young man of more than ordi- suined teaching after leaving college and later 
nary promise. His advance in life has been rajjid was apjiointed principal of the higii school at 
and brilliant. Agreeable and companionable, (jrand Rapids, Wisconsin. He then entered the 
_ generous in disposition and of office of his present partners as a student, and 
^^^^^^A forceful personality, he stands was admitted to the bar in 1886. He was im- 



S. J 



high in public estimation. 

]\Ir. G. I). Jones was born in 

1 larris1)urg. New York, Septem- 

l)er 18, 1856, shortly after the 

death of his father. Wlien he 

was thirteen years of age he went 

' to Wisconsin and made his home 

with his uncle, Da\'id D. Jones, a 

farmer of Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, where 

he accpiired a comtnon-school education, and 

afterward taught school, earning enough to pny 




mediately taken intO' the firm as an equal partner. 
This recognition of his talents by the three able 
law\'ers with wliom he had studied is a rare ex- 
perience for a young- attornc}- and a convincing 
e\idence of his ability. 

Mr. Jones takes great interest in educational 
work, h^or se\-eral years he has been a member 
<if the school board and for the past si.K years has 
been its president. He is a well-known and in- 
fluential figure at state gatherings of professional 
educators, and to his influence is largely due the 



472 



PROMIXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



great progress made in recent years and the pres- Evelyn A. Jtmes, a farmer's danghter. of EunJ 
ent high standing of the W'ausau pul)hc schools^ du Lac county. They have a family of four 
Mr. Jones was married July 13. 1887, to Miss daughters. 



MITCHELL JOANNES 

GREEN BAY, WIS. 



One (jf the Ijesi ixnown husiness men of Green 
Bay, Wisconsin, Mitchell Joannes, president of 
the tirtn of Joannes Brothers Company, whole- 
sale grocers, is regarded as one of the most 
enterprising and puhlic spirited of its citizens. 
He was president of the Business Men's Asso- 
ciation or several }-ears and exerts an unceasing 
influence in behalf of the city's growth, and with 
his brothers has built up the most important 
comanercial establishment in the city. 

Mitchell Joannes was born in 1848, at Ter- 
vueren, a village six miles tlistaiit from Brussels, 
in Belgium. His parents, Eugene C. and Marie 
Elizabeth (V^andersmessen) Joannes, came to 
this country in 1856, and with their children, 
eight in all, settled upon a small farm in the town 
of Lawren.ce, Brown county. \\'isconsin. Six 
months afterwards, the father was drowned un- 
der the ice of the Eox river, leaving the family in 
the wilderness of a strange land and among •; 
strange people. 

When Mitchell Joannes' father died and he 
was required in conse(]uence to leave the family 
liome and live among strangers, he was only eight 
years of age. When eight and a half years old he 
began doing regular farm work, and attending 
school in the winter months. Four years later a 
somewhat more lucrati\-e form of farm work 
w'as found for him at Ripoii. Wisconsin, and he 
was employed there two years. In 1862, when 
fourteen years old, he went to Green Bay and 
entered the office of a phvsician as office clerk, 
where lie remained two vears, when lie became 



clerk in the crockery house of Wheelock & Chap- 
man. At the age of se\-enteen he became a vol- 
unteer soldier, joining Company G, of the Forty- 
first \\'isconsin Infantry. He was stationed at 
Alemphis, Tennessee; and saw no fighting, and at 
the end of the brief term for which he was er.- 



listed, was honor;i 



ll.)IV < 



ischareed. 



Soon after returning home he was a])pointcd 
to a position in the Green Bay Postoffice, where 
he continued as clerk and assistant pt)Stmaster 
for nine years. He resigned this position to 
identifv himself activelv with the grocerv l)usi- 
ness which his brothers had meanwhile estab- 
lished. The house of Joannes Brothers was first 
organized in a small way, as a retail business in 
1872 and its trade fnnn tlie outset was large. 
With the financial ])anic of 1876 every wholesale 
grocery house in Green Bay was forced to sus- 
pend. The Joannes Brothers, who had then at- 
tained to the rank of leadership among the retail 
grocers, were quick to seize the opportunity that 
offered of securing the wholesale trade, their 
Ijusiness enlargement was rapid and in 1884 tlieir 
retail department was discontinued and since that 
lime an exclusively jobbing business lias been 
d.tne, and Joannes Brothers Company possess 
to-day the model wholesale grocery plant of the 
west, and their field of trade is co-extensive with 
the northwest. 

As president of this establishment the moti\-e 
power centers in Mitchell Joannes : he is a man 
of breadth and courage and native business abil- 
ity. The present great business has been built 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



475 



ui) from a small beginning to its i)resent size 
through a broad and liberal p(.lic\- and strictest 
integrity. His standing in the community worth- 
ily becomes the man. 

Mr. Joannes' property interests outside his. 
firm are large. He has been a stockholder and di- 
rector in the Citizens' National Bank since its or- 
ganizatiim and is now its vice-president. He is 
also' vice-president of the Chilton ( Wiscmsin) 
National Bank, a director and treasurer in the 
Green Bay Water Company ; general manager and 
treasurer of the Fox River Electric Railway & 



Power Company ; a stockholder in the American 
Wood Wtjrking Machine Company, the Green 
Bay Planing Mill Company, and in the Green Bay 
Pickle factory. He is a prominent and heljjful 
member and otficer of two Iniilding antl loan 
associations, and also is a large owner ui Green 
Bay real estate. 

Mr. Joannes was married July i, 1875. to 
Miss Fannie I). Goixlhue, a daughter of Charles 
F. and Delia (.'\lger) Goodhue, who were early 
settlers of Beloit, Wlisconsin. They have had fi\e 
children, of whom three are living. 



GEORGE F. BELLIS 

WAUSAU, WIS. 



The name of George F. Bellis has been promi- 
nently associated with the interests of Wausau. 
Wisconsin, since 1878, and his active efforts in its 
behalf ha\-e contributed largely toward the wel- 
fare and progress of the city. There is no more 
conspicuous figure in Wausau or 
none better known to the public 
at large. His social qualities are 
marked, and his genial disposi- 
tion and courteous manner ha\e 
made him a fa\'orite with all. He 
is owner and proprietor of the 
Bellis House, one of the land- 
marks of the city, and other Wau- 
sau i)roi)erty. He also holds much tine timljer 
land in the north and several well-stocked and 
producti\'e farms near Wausau. in w hich he takes 
just pride. 

Mr. Bellis was jjorn at Penn Van, New York, 
April 21, 1829. and is the son of J(.)seph and 
Sarah Fox Bellis. He decided in 1854 to try. 
his fortunes in the west, first stopping for a short 
period in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and then in 




Dexter. In 1855 he moved to Berlin, \\'iscon- 
sin, where he remained six years. After spend- 
ing three years in Minnesota he returned to Ber- 
lin, continuing there until 1871, when he went to 
\\'au]iaca, Wisconsin, for two years. In 1873 he 
started a fruit and confectionery business in 
^\'ausau, and in 1875 opened (his first hotel in 
th.e city ) a business in which he has continued 
e\'er since. He ^"old out his first hotel and built a 
second: this latter burned up and was a total loss, 
as there was no insurance. He thereupon bought 
l)ack the first hotel. The present structure was 
Iniilt in 1881. 

Mr. Bellis was married in 1858 to Miss Mary 
Jane Vi ung, of New York, who with her par- 
ents had just mn\ed into Wisconsin. They have 
had three children, Lewell R., who was for a long 
time captain of the Wausau Guards, was born in 
18O3 and died May Ji, 1896; Mark P.. his fa- 
ther's al)le assistant, Ixirn in 18^17. and Newman 
H.. born in 1883, a graduate of St. John's Mili- 
tary Academy, of Delafield, Wisconsin, and now 
at Knox College. The jiride of the household is 



4/6 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Mark, Jr., tlie grandson of Mr. Bellis, and son office and lias not held any since, working only 

of the late Lewell R. Mr. Bellis is a Democrat for the party's good. He has for many years 

in ])olitics and was postmaster under President enjoyed much personal regard and friendship 

Buchanan's adiuinistratinn. l>ut has no desire for and kindly expression of them. 



ARISTIDES EDWIN BALDWIN, M. D., LL. B., D. D. S. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



One of the most popular dentists of Chicago 
is Dr. Aristides E. Baldw in. A man w idely trav- 
eled, of hroad culture, a graduate physician and 
surgeon, a graduate lawyer and a graduate and 
l)racticing dentist, he is regarded by all as a 
leader in his chosen profession. 

Dr. Aristides E. Baldwin is a son ui Sebrean 
and Lo\ina (Stevens) Baldwin, and was horn at 
Greenwood, McHenry county, Illinois, February 
5, 1852. His early edticatiou was received at the 
public schools of his native place. At fourteen 
years of age he was apprenticed to the carriage- 
making trade, and worked at that two years, 
keeping up his studies at the work bench and at 
night, solving many difficult problems whik 
working with his hands at his trade. At si.xteen 
lie began teaching a country school in ]\IcHenry 
ctmntv, Illinois, and taught such school for four 
years, keeping" up in his studies out of school 
hours, taking up in time all the advanced school 
work, such as geometry, botany, geology, astron- 
omy, zoology, etc. He then Ijecame principal oi 
the schools of Genoa Junction. Wisconsin, for 
four years, the last three years studying medicine 
at all hours out of school and preparing for med- 
ical college work. 

He entered Rush ^ledical College in 1875 
and graduated from there in Feljruary, 1878. 
Dr. Baldwin then commenced the practice of 
medicine at Toulon. Illinois, and soon was en- 
trusted with an extensive practice, and by some 
l)rilliant surgical operations became very promi- 



nent in that part nf the state as a surgenn. Three 
years later he mo\-ed to Woodstock, Illinois, de- 
siring a wider held of operation. He here en- 
joyed as large, or larger, practice than any other 
physician in the county. In 1882, on account of 
ill health of his wife, the Doctor sold his practice, 
and for nearly a year traveled with his wife. On 
her recovery he entered a dental office in Chicago, 
matriculated as the first dental student in the first 
dental college in Chicago, and in July, 1884, was 
the first graduate of that school. Since then he 
has had a large and select practice at his resi- 
dence on the west side. As a mental discipline, 
he took a three-year course in a Chicago law col- 
lege and was graduated as an LL. D. In Febru- 
ary, 1 90 1, on invitation of Dr. J. S. Marshall, he 
moved his office to 1013 \'enetian Building in 
Chicago. 

Dr. Baldwin helped to organize the North- 
western University Dental School, and was pro- 
fessor there for years, and has also been a teacher 
in medical colleges for many years. In 1899 he 
was elected Ui the chair as adjunct professor of 
surgery (stomatology) in the College of Physi- 
cians and Surgeons of Chicago, the Medical De- 
partment of the University of Illinois, which po- 
sition he still retains. 

Dr. Baldwin is a ihirty-second-degree Ma- 
son, a member of the National Union, Chicago 
Academy of Medicine, Chicago Medical Society, 
Chicago Dental Society, .'vmerican Medical As- 
sociation, and has been for years an officer of 




C{\ E^/^rU^^^ 



in^'i,' 



^ 



PROMINENT MEN Oi' THE GREAT WEST 



479 



section of stomatology and iiicmhcr of general 
business committee of the American Medical As- 
sociation and a member of the literary society 
called "The Gnogis." He has travelcil exten- 
sively b(jtli abroad and in his nwn cnuntry, in 
Mexico and British America, lie is a mcmljer of 



Genoa Junction, Wisconsin, who later settled at 
Pasadena, California. They ha\e two daughters, 
Alice Estelle, born in 1881 and educated at ])ul)- 
lic schoiils. Lewis Institute, and who graduated 
at Francis Scheiner Academy, at Mt. Carroll, 
Jllintiis, in kjoo; Helen L<i\ina, l)iirn in 1SS9, 



the Fonrth P.aptist church, and polilically is a r.ow a pupil at King School. 
Republican. The family spend their summers at their 

Dr, Baldwin was united in marriage May 8, beaiitiful summer home, "Oak Knoll Cot- 

1878, to Miss Lois A. Freeman, eldest daughter tage,"' in Buena Vista Park, on Lake Geneva, 

of Mr. Wilham Freeman, a prominent citizen of Wisconsin. 



HARVEY T. WEEKS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

One of Chicago's most highly respected citi- for about one }'ear, but was not ct^nfirmed by the 

zens is Mr. Harvey T. Weeks, w1k.> has many senate. He then sold out his store and remo\e(.l 

business interests in Chicago. He is a man of to Chicago and again went to work for .\. L. 

strong character, unswerving integrity and great Flale & Brother. He left that firm to engage in 

ability. In the world of business be plays an im- the real estate and loan Inisiness, and formed a 

portant part. cojiartnership with Carter LI. Flarri.son in 1874. 

Harvey T. Weeks was born Ou November 20 1884, be commenced to operate 

in Lockport, Illinois, NoNember the Chicag-o Horse & Dummy Railway, being 

20, 1842, and is a son of Joseph its president. Lie financed and sui)er\iscd its 

M. and Martlia L. (Lane) construction and changed its name to the Chicago 

^\'eeks. His early education was Passenger Railway at the suggestion of J. \i. 

had at the public schools of Lock- \\'alsh. 

port. After leaving school be Wlien Xorman T. (iassett died Mr. Weeks 

worked in a plow factory for his was elected president of the Masonic Temple .\s- 

uncle, John Lane, and clerked in sociation, and with others, financed and carried. 

a general store. Leaving Lockp^ort in \^^y) he through to completion the Masonic Temple. He 

removed to Chicago' and worked in a mechanical was aiiiminted West Park commissioner in May, 

bakery, and from there went to* work for A. L. i8<)4' h\' (ioN-ernor Altgeld, and served two 




Ji:de & Br(.ther, wholesale furniture dealers, 
brom there he went to Pentwater, .Michigan, to 
wdrk in a general store for Charles Mears. Re- 



terms as ])resident of the board of commissioners. 
.\fter the election of Go\crnor Tanner he was 
discharged. Mr. Weeks is a member of the Chi- 



moving to Chicago in 1862, he enbsted in the cago Stock Exchange, Chicago Real b^slale 

Chicago Mercantile Battery and served until the Board, Illinois Cluli, Giicago .\thletic Associ- 

close of the war. He then went to Lockport and ation and Cimk County Club, Garden City Lodge 

oiiened a general store, and was ap|>ointed post- and Oriental Consistory Masons. He has tra\-- 

master under Andrew Tojm.son, holding the office elcd nuich, having \isited Australia, New Zea- 



48o 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



land, Cliina, Japan. Hawaiian Islands, Mexico 
and generally in the United States. 

Mr. Weeks is a director in the National Bank 
of Ciiicagoi and West Chicago Street Railway 
Company. He is a man possessed of many high 
traits, and as a citizen is everywliere known as 



onghly honest, conscientious and rt-lial)le, while 
his strict adherence to principles command the re- 
spect of all his husiness associates, acquaintances 
and friends. 

Mr. Weeks was united in marriage June i, 
1870, to Miss Joanna F. Marcy. <_if Cape May, 



possessing the highest integrity, being thor- New Jersey. 



WILLIAM R. PLUM 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

William R. Plum is one of the ablest mem- rejoined on the Atlantic campaign, and was in 
hers of the Illinois bar, and his extensive legal the battle of Jonesboro, Georgia, with him. Had 
busness at once indicates his skill in handling the management of the Atlanta office during Sher- 
inlricate problems of jurisprudence. He has been man's occupatiim of the city. He returned to 

General Tlmmas" headquarters at Nashville and 
was with him in the battle of Nashville. He 
held cipher keys thmughciut his ser\ice; among 
them was one that was known unly at Grant's, 
Shei'man's and Thomas' headquarters and the 
war department. Resigned at the close of the 
war after three and a quarter \ears' service. He 
declined offer of appointment b\' tlie president to 
West Point tn attend college in New Haven, 
Connecticut. His sax'ings running lnw. he ac- 

of 



actively engaged in the practice of law in Chi- 
cago since 1867, and has acquired a truly en\i- 
able position in the esteem of the general public 
and of his brother practitioners. 

William R. Plum was born at JMassillon, 
Ohio, Stark county, March 25, 1S45. and is a 
son of Henry and Nancy North Plum, from Con- 
necticut, who were married sixty-five and one- 
half years. His early education was acqtiired at 
Cu.)ahoga Falls, Ohio, and at New Haven, Con- 
necticut. At the early age of fifteen years he cepted the night management of the city tele- 
learned telegraphy and at sixteen had charge of graph office, which he held two years, in the 
an office, and was promoted in three months to meantime studyin.g law and graduating from 
management of the headquarters office of the Yale Law School in 1867. 



Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad Company at 
Cleveland, Ohio. Before he was seventeen years 
of age he joined the Military Telegraph Corps, 
United States Army, in Kentucky, and in eight- 
een mi.niths more was prom<ited to the manage- 
ment of Nashville and Cairo military line east o.( 
Paducah, with headquarters at Fort l^melson. 



Mr. I'lum began the practice of law in Chi- 
cago in the fall of 18O7 and has continued the 
work ever since, having in the meantime attained 
gi'cat success, and is looked upon as one of the 
rtlialjle law\'ers of the Illinois bar. 

Mr. I'him resides at Lomliard. Illinois, where 
he has for se\eral terms jjeen president of the 



Later he had charge of the military telegraiih town council. He has always taken an active 

offices at General Rosseau's headquarters, at part in political matters, but never as a candidate 

General Gordon Granger's and other. He was for office. He has been a Mason since 1867. and 

with General Thomas at Chattanooga, whom he for seventeen successive years president of the 




^yU Cy^^-'t^^*—-->-r>-'^^ 



7 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



483 



Society nf the United States Military Telegrapli 
Coqjs, and is a member of tlie Congregational 
churcli, and of various telegraph societies, of the 
Law Institute and the Chicago' Bar Association. 
lie has tra\elcd extensi\el\- in the United States, 
Canada, Mexico, England, Wales, Scotland, Ire- 
land, Belg'ium, Holland, I^enmark, Norway, 
Sweden, Finland, Russia, Austria, Switzerland, 
(jtrmany, France and It.al}'. Politically he is an 
earnest Republican. 

Mr. I'hun was married .Xjiril 10, 1867, tn 



Miss Helen M. Williams, daughter of Cynthia 
M. Williams and a direct descendant of Roger 
Williams. Mr. Plum is a man of high char- 
acter. He is (|uite a writer and is author of 
"History of the United States Military Tele- 
graph Corps," two octavo volumes, 1881. His 
])ractice is in the state and also the United States 
courts. 

As a lawyer he stands high, and as a citizen 
is everywhere kni)wn as possessing the highest 
integritv. 



HON. DAVID BREMNER HENDERSON 

DUBUQUE, lUWA 

David I!. Ilendcrsim, member of congress [jointed commissioner df the Ixi-ard of enrollment 
from the thirtl district of Lnva, and speaker of of the third district of Iowa, serving as such 
tlie house of representatives for the hfty-sixth ni-.lil June, 1864, when he re-entered the army as 
and fifty-seventh congresses, and senior meiuber colonel of the Forty-sixth Regiment. Iowa In- 
of the great law firm in Dubuque, Iowa, of Hen- fantry Viilunteers, and served therein until the 
derson, Hurd, Lenehan & Kiesel, close of his term of service; was collector of in- 
was born at Old Deer, Scotland, tcrnal re\-euue for the third district of Iow;i from 
March 14, 1840, and is a son of Xo\-eiuber, 1865, until June, 1869. when he re- 
Thomas and Barbara (Legge) signed and became a member of the law firm of 
Henderson. His family settled Shiras, Van Duzee & Henderson; was assistant 
in Illinois in 1846 and in Iowa United States district attorney for the northern 
in i84(j. He was educated at the division of the district of Iowa about two vears, 
]iiiblic schi ols of Illiuois and resigning in 1871 ; is now a member of the law 
iowa and at the Upper Iowa Uni- firm of Henderson. Hurd, Lenehan & Kiesel; 
versitw at l'"ayette, b)\\a. an<l was elected ti> tire forty-eig-bt, forty-ninth, fif- 
tpiit college to enter the army ; studied law with tieth, fifty-first, fifty-second, tifty-third, fifty- 
I'-issel iv Shir.'is, of l)ubu(]ue, and was admitted fourth, fiftv-fifth and lift\-sixtb congresses, and 
to the bar in the fall of 18(15; was rearetl on a re-elected to the fifty-se\-entb congress; was 
farm until twenty-one years of age; enlisted in elected speaker of the fifty-sixth and re-elected 
the Ihiion army in September, i86i, as private speaker of the fifty-seventh congresses. Mr. 




in Com]ian)' C, Twelfth Regiment, Iowa In- 
fantry \'oIunteers, ;',nd was elected ami commis- 
sioned first lieutenant of that company, ser\-ing 
with it until discharged, owing to the loss of his 
leg, I'ebruary 26, iSC^t,: in May, T8r)_^, was ap- 



Heuflerson is a ^Iasi>n, Knight of Pythias, Elk, 
Shriner, G. A. R., Loyal Legion, L^ujon Veter- 
ans' LTnion, and was first comm.'inder of the Iowa 
Loval Legion. He has traveled extensively both 
in the United States and in France, Scotland, 



484 PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WESi 

Htilland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. at West Union, Iowa, to Miss Augusta A. 
He attends tlie Second Presbyterian church of Fox. They liave three chihh-en. Mrs. Angie 
l>"hu(|ue. Peaslee, Bellie S. Henderson and Don A. Hen- 

.\lr. I Icndcisnn was ni.'irried Mai'ch 4. \H(t(\. derson. 



HON. NORMAN S. GILSON 

FOND DU LAC, WIS. 



Judge Norman S. Gilson was horn at Middle- 
field, Geauga county, Ohii:>, March 2^, 1839, and 
is a son of W'illiard H. and Sylvia (Frisby) Gil- 
son, both of I'nritan stock, and whose ancestors 
were prominently identilied with the wars of 
1776 and 1H12. 

The mother's family was among the earliest 
settlers of Vermont. The paternal Ijranch of 
the famil_\- in America was founded by Joseph 
Gilson, who emigrated from luiglaml and settled 
in Massachusetts in 1600. 

The boyhood days of the subject of oiu' 
sketch were passed on his father's farm. After 
atiending the district schodl during the winter 
months he pursued a higher course of study in 
the Farmington .\cadeniy. Feaving there, he 
taught school for a year in Ohio, and in Ajiril, 
i860. mo\-ed lo Wisconsin. He studied law in 
the office of his uncle, Hon. L. F. Frisby, at West 
I'.end, in the latter stale, and made considerable 
progress in his stuilies. When the war broke oui 
he enlisted, .September 17. iSfu. as a private in 
Gompany I) of the Twelfth Wisconsin \'(jlun- 
teer Infantry. lie went to llie front with his 
regiment in j.-mnary. iSfu, where he remained 
r.ntil June 10, the same year, at which time he 
entered the Army irf the Cumberland, under Gen. 
Robert l>. Mitchell, in which he served until after 
the battle of I'erryx'illc. lie then rejoined his 
regiment in October, T8rij, and on ]\fav 3, 1863, 
was promoted to sergeant major. .\t Natchez, 
Mississippi, on /\ugust 17, 1863, he was com- 
missioned first lieutenant of Company II of the 



F"«rty-eighth Regiment, United States Colored 
Infantry, and was later appointed adjutant and 
subsecpiently lieutenant coh.mel of the same regi- 
ment, afterward being bre\etted colonel of vol- 
unteers. 

He was judge advocate of the district of 
Natchez and department of Mississippi, and 
while in the Department of the Mississiiipi was 
on the staffs of (Irills, Osterhaus and W<io<l. 
lie served as judge ad\dcate of the court martial 
of Vicksburg, which tried Capt. Frederick Speed 
for overlooking the steamer "Sultana," whereby 
the li\es of more than eleven hundred paroled 
prisoners of war were lost on the Mississippi 
near I\lemi>his in i8(')5. He was mustered out of 
the army at Vicksburg, June 12, 1866, after hav- 
ing been four years and nine months in the serv- 
ice of his country. 

In September, 1866, he resumed the study of 
law at the .\lbany Law School, at which he grad- 
uated in May, 1867. In January, 1868, he set- 
tled at I-'ond du Lac, where he entered the prac- 
tice of his profession. He was moderately suc- 
cessful at the start, and because of his ability, 
soon attracted the attention of his fellow-citizens, 
lie was honored by being elected city attorney in 
1874. and in 1876 was elected district .attorney 
f(.r Fond du Lac county. In 18S0 he w;is ele- 
\;ited t<i the circuit bench of the i'ourth judicial 
district, comprising the counties of Fond du Lac, 
Sheboygan, Manitowoc antl Kewainiee, ;md so 
well did he till the duties entrusted to him that 
he v/as re-elected to the office in 1886 and 1892. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



487 



Judge Gilson is an active member of tlie ^lili- he lias resided at Fond du Lac. and during all 

tary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United that time no word of reproach has ever justly 

States, of the (irand /Vrniy of the Republic, nf been uttered against him. As a soldier he served 

the Society nf the Arm\- of the Tennessee and of his conntry faithfully and well, with tliat ardor 

the Knights of Pythias. Ik' is unmarried. Al- ;',nd patriotism which jiride of country alone can 

thongh a niemljer of no religious body, he at- instill. .\s a judge he carries himself with rare 

lends the Congregational church. dignity. .\s a citizen he is ])rogressive and pnli- 

fudge Gilson's career illustrates the \-alue of lie spirited, connnanding the respect of all 

effort and integrity. For a quarter of a century classes. 



ALBERT H. SCHERZER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



iMbert II. Scher/.er, the youngest child of 
William and W'ilhelmina Scherzer, and brother 
of William Scherzer, the inventor of the Scherzer 
Rolling Lift Ihndge, was born at Peru, LaSalle 
connl\-. Illinois, on July 22, 1865. The respcmsi- 
bility of his e(Iucali(in de\ol\-ed 
upon his niolher. owing lo tjie 
early death of his father, which 
occurred when .\lbert Scherzer 
was only two years of age. He 
attended the high scboul of his 
nati\e citw until his mother de- 
termined ti> \isit b'.urope to lie 
with her son, William Scherzer. 
while he was pursuing" his stud- 
ies at the Po'Iytechnicum. at Zur- 
ich. Switzerland. The mother, accoinjianied by 
lier two' sons ruid daughter, traveled e.xlensiveh' 
throughout I'.nrope before .\lbert Scherzer start- 
ed his studies at the Technical lligli .School. 
Zurich. 

.\tter coni])leting the course of sludv in the 
iechnical lligh .School, and further travel in 
luu'ope, .\lbcrt Scherzer returned to the Lbiited 
State.s, .and. in iSSj. became identified with the 
Illinois Zinc ('om]>an\-. of Peru, one of (lie larg- 
est firms in the world engaged in the smelting 




and rolling of sheet zinc. He remained with that 
company ni various capacities for the following 
eight years. During this period of time he de- 
voted much of his leisure to) the stud)- of litera- 
ture and law. 

In the year i8yo Air. Scherzer came to Chi- 
cago and entered the Union College of Law, iiur- 
suing the regular course leading to the degree 
of LL. B., and graduating therefrcim with the 
class of [S()2. He obtained practical ex^jierienee 
in the law offices of seyeral able attorneys, and 
lta\ing the law department of the Lake Shore & 
^Michigan Southern Railwa)' Company, estab- 
lished an office and entered upon the practice i>i 
his profession at Chicago. 

Upon the death of his brother William, .\lbcrt 
H. Scherzer gave his attention to the de\elop- 
meiit of the .Scherzer Rolling Lift Ilridges and 
the e.xtension of the business founded by Will- 
iam Scherzer. In order to prepare himself for 
the work he h;id vmdertaken. Mr. .Scherzer made 
cxtensise studies in bridge construction, more 
especially of mo\al)le bridges; also of harbors, 
docks. ri\'ers and canals, and in ])ursuit of his 
studies along these lines traveled e.\tensi\ely in 
both this Country and F.uro])e, \-isiting all the 
]irincipal structures and works of this class. 



488 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



y\r. Schcrzcr ln'canic president and chief en- recognized as autliiiritati\e nimn the sulijects 

gineer (it tlie Sciierzer RnlHng Lift Bridge Com- treated and widely circuhited at Imme and 

pany, and under liis management anil direction abroad, lie has also' contributed a number of 

the scope of the business has been widely ex- articles on Ijridge engineering and the imjirove- 

kndcd. As a director of the company, Mr. n^ent of rivers, harbors, docks and canals, to vari- 

Scherzer's nK.lhcr. W'ilhelmina Scherzer. now ous American and foreign scientific and tech- 

nearly eighty years of age, has always taken a nical publications. Some of these articles, which 

deep interest in the artistic development of the have received' the most widespread notice, were 




Scherzer Rolling Lift Jiridges and the extension 
of the business of the company, and has invari- 
ably sup])(irtcd her \ie\vs with Iniancial assistance. 

The main ofliccs (if the cc/mpany are at Chi- 
cago, L. S. A., but permanent offices have also 
been established at St. Petersburg, Russia, and 
other large cities throughout the world, the lousi- 
ness of the com])anv being protected by numer- 
ous foreign patents. 

Mr. Scherzer is the author of -several books 



written with a view of calling attention t(.i the 
undeveloped c(.indition of the great rivers and 
natural harfiors of the L'nited States and the 
necessity of a ship canal within the L'nited States 
connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic 
Ocean, bv wa\- of the Ihulson ri\er, and another 
shi]> canal connecting the Great Lakes with the 
Gulf of Mexico by way of the Mississippi river 
system. These improvements have now become 
an indispensable economic necessity to the United 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



489 



States. They present nejtlier engineering nor 
financial difficulties that cannot easily be over- 
come, in view of the fact that the Dominion of 
Canada, with less than one-sixteenth of the popu- 
lation of the United States, has already inipro\-ed 
the St. Lawrence river and constructed shii) 
canals which complete their system of waterways 
connecting the (ireat Lakes and the Atlantic 



Mr. .Scherzer is a member of the Union 
League, Athletic, (iermania and ^larcjuette 
Clubs, of Chicago. 

Till-; .'^c'Li i^Kzi-K i;oi.i,i xc, i.ri-T nuiDoi-: comivwy. 

The Scherzer RnUiiig Lift Dridge fulfills 
every requirement essential to a movable bridge. 




Ocean through Canada. Russia, Germany, 
France and other world powers have already en- 
tered upnn great systems of shii)-canal construc- 
tii'U. with a view of carrying ocean steamships 
and war vessels into the interior of their com- 
mercial, manufacturing and industrial centers. 
These ship canals are intended to supplement the 
existing railroads and will be indisi)ensable in 
reaching, without re-handling, the great for- 
eign markets of the world. 



Its introductiiiii m;irked a new cr.a in the progress 
i/f bridse desitin and ci nstrnction. It eliminates 
the objectionable features of the pivnt, trunninn 
or bascule briilge, the swing bridge, the direct- 
lifting bridge, and is ni(ire ccunnuiical than the 
liigh level bridge. It spans navigal.ile waterways 
in a nidst simple, efficient and least expensive 
manner. 

The efficiency of the .Scherzer Rolling Lift 
Bridge in accomnnidaling Ijoth the largest land 



490 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



aiid water traffic and its siiperinrity cner furnier 
types of movable bridges and liigli-level bridges 
has been dennjnstrated Ijeyund (juestiim by the 
many large bridges of the Sclicrzer type now in 
successful operation in many parts of the world ; 
and tlie further fact that it has been approved, 
adopted and used by the management and engi- 
neers of the largest ami most progressive rail- 
roads in the L'nited States for the largest and 
most difficult movable railroatl bridges ever built, 
and in many cases has superseded the swing 
bridge after ouly a few _\cars of service. The 
Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge has been adopted 
and the Scherzer Company has completed plans 
for a large numljer cf railroad, street railway and 
highway bridges in ccurse of construction in 
various parts of the world. 

The swing bridge has lung been recognized by 
erigineers as a primitive form of movable bridge, 
as it obstructs the middle and best part of the 
dredged, improved or navigable channel of a 
river, harbor or canal. It compels the spanning 
of two inadequate channels where only one ade- 
cjuate channel is required. The slow movement 
of vessels through the narrow side openings pro- 
vided by swing bridges obstructs and delays rail- 
road, street railwa}-, highway and vessel traffic. 
In opening or closing the swing Ijridge moves in 
a horizontal plane and makes useless valual)le 
dock and other property. The swing bridge 
must always Ije made narrow so as not to occupy 
ti.-i) much of the na\igable waterway when the 
bridge is opened for the passage of vessels. The 
swing bridge, when open, opens a chasm in the 
roadwav which lias fref|uently resulted in dis- 
astrous accidents and the loss of many lives. 
This defect in the swing bridge is becoming of 
greater importance each vear because of the in- 
creased traffic and increased speed of railroad, 
street railway and highway traffic. 

With the Scherzer RoUing Lift Bridge the 
sup])orting piers mav lie on shore in a narrow 
channel, or on tlie sides oi the dredged and na\'i- 



gable cliannel in a wide river. No center pier or 
protection pier olxstructions are necessary. The 
navigable channel in a wide or narrow ri\er may 
alwa_\s ]je cleai' and unobstructed. When opened 
for the passage of vessels the Scherzer Rolling 
Lift Bridge acts as a barrier, closing the roadway 
and thus absolutely prevents the man\- disastrous 
accidents connrnm to the swing bridge when 
opened. Without additional cost the ])ridge itself 
forms the most perfect, substantial and successful 
bridge gate and signal ever invented. The Ijridge 
moves in a vertical plane within the lines of the 
roadway, no dock space lieing wasted and no 
e.xtra land or water space being required for 
moving the bridge. Increased traffic requiring 
additional railroad tracks may be accommodated 
by adding additional single or double-track Scher- 
zer Rolling Lift Bridges to the existing Scherzer 
Rolling Lift Bridge. This is impossiiile with the 
swing bridge, as it must be discarded and re- 
moved wdienever increased traffic demands a 
wider bridge. The Scherzer Bridge may be of 
\c-r\ artistic design. 

In addition to the Scherzer Rolling Lift 
Bridges already mentioned, the more prominent 
ones are the six-track bridge in operation for the 
New York, New Ha\en & Hartford Railroad 
Company across Fort Point Channel, at tlie en- 
trance to the South Terminal Station, Boston, 
Massachusetts; the eight-track Scherzer .Rolling 
Lift Bridge across the Main Drainage and Shij) 
Canal, Chicago, used l)y the Pittsljurg, Cincin- 
nati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Conip;my, the 
Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad Company, 
the Chicago Junction Railway Comj^any and 
other lines, making it not only the largest mov- 
al)le railro;id bri<lge in the world, but also ac- 
commodating the heaviest and the most frequent 
railroad traffic. The recently completed Scher- 
zer Rolling Lift Bridge at the entrance to the 
(h-and Central Station. Chicago, is the longest 
span bascule bridge e\'er constructed, the clear 
span l)cing fifty feet longer than tliat of the 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



491 



Tower Bridge, London, England, and tlie capac- 
ity per lineal foot twice as great. We re])nHluce 
an illustration of the site of this hridge. It also 
sliows the ohstructi\e swing hridge which had 
to lie removed and discarded while comparatively 
new and he rei)laced hy the Scherzer Rolling Lift 
Bridge. The view graphically illustrates the oli- 
slructixe character of all swing hridgcs, as they 
occup_\- the middle or best part of the waterwa)-. 
The second illustratio-n shows the ohstructi\'e 
swing hridge remo\'ed, with the 275-foot span 
Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge in the open position 
in the foreground, and also shiiws the adjacent 
Taylor Street highway Scherzer Rolling Lift 
Bridge in the open ixjsition. Both of these 
bridges provide a clear and unobstructed water- 
way for the passage of vessels. 



The other highway, street railway and rail- 
road bridges constructed and under construction 
according to the plans and under the consulting 
engineering charge of the Scherzer Rolling 
Lift Bridge Company are too numerous to 
menti(jn. 

The compan\', b\' gradual developnient and 
e.\i)erience, is now i)rei)ared to furnish at any 
part of the world a movalile bridge of any length 
or width reipiired. The bridge may even be one 
liundreil tracks wide and one thousand feet clear 
span, or sufficient, when oi>ened, for the passage 
of ten vessels of the size of the steamship 
Occa)iic side by side. These results can only be 
accomplished by the intelligent application of the 
invention of William Scherzer and the improve- 
ments made by his successors. 



LLOYD MILNOR 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Lloyd Mihior, president of Spanking & Com- their employ for about five years, and in 1881 

pany, jewelers, was born at Baltimore. April 6, became connected with Moses Taylor & Com- 

1856. His father was John Nelson Lloyd Mil- pany, one of the oldest and most substantial mer- 

nor, a leading merchant of Baltimore, and his cantile houses in New York, and continued with 

mother, whose maiden name was Susan Johns this fu-ni until they went out of business in 

Semmes was a first cousin of 1889. 

Raphael Stnnnes, the Confed- Mr. ]\Iilnor visited Chicago in January, 1890, 

erate naval hero. His parental and there entered the honse of Spaukling & Com- 

grandfather was Josejih Kirk- pany, in the capacity of treasurer. His connec- 

bridge Mihior, a native of Xew tion with this well-known fimi has been most 

jersey, and for many \ears an successful, and in l-'ebruary. 1896, he Ijecame 

extensive importer of Chinese president of the company, retaining the office of 

merchandise and the owner of treasurer as well. In Chicago Mr. Milnor has 

mercantile houses both in Xew become identified with several of the more promi- 

York and China. nent social organizations, among them the Union 

Mr. JMilnor was educated at ])rivale schools Club, the Chicago Club, the \\'a.shington Park 

in Baltimore and Xew York, but at the age of Club and the Chicago Athletic Association, of 

sixteen' he entered the world of business as an Chicago; (den View Golf Club, of Evanston, Illi- 

office boy in the banking house of Morton, Bliss nois, Exnioor Cmmtry Club of Highland Park, 

& Company, New York City. He remained in Illinois, and Lambs Club, of New York. He is a 




492 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



sound-money DenuKrat in his iKjlitical affiliations, to Miss Gertrude Louise Palmer, daughter of 

hut lias taken no active part in politics, so much Fretlerick E. aiul Harriet H. Palmer, of Xew 

has his time been occupietl in business. York, and has two' children. Dorothy Semmes 

Mr. IMilnor was married October 7, 1896. and Jose])h Kirkbride Milnor. 



THOMAS DEAN CATLIN 

OTTAWA, ILL. 



Thomas Dean Catlin, manufacturer and 
banker, is one of the best known men of Ottawa, 
or in that section of the state of Illinois. Pos- 
sessed of broad capabilities and fertile resources, 
his keen tliscrimination, sound juilgnient and 
business sagacity has enabled him to carry for- 
ward to successful completion many large under- 
takings. 

Mr. Catlin was b<jrn at Clinton, Oneida coun- 
ty, New York, March u, 1838, and is a son of 
Marcus and Philena (Dean) Catlin. His father 
was a professor of mathematics in Hamilton Col- 
lege, Clinton, New York, and was of English de- 
scent. His death occurred in 1849. O" '^'^^ '"''^" 
tcrnal side Mr. Catlin tlescends from on old his- 
orical family of New York state. His mother 
comes of a family that founded Deansboro in 
1795. On the site of that town lived the Brother- 
ton Indians, and in that year John Dean, a 
Quaker missionary, went to labor with these red 
men. He died at the age of eighty-six in 1820. 
leaving a son, 'riiunias Dean, to: contintie the 
missionar)' work with liie ISrotherton Indians, 
lie was a man of Herculean i>roportions, great 
abilitv and souml judgment. He acted as In- 
dian agent, counsellor, sjiiritual guide and gen- 
eral law-giver. He had live children, one being 
Mrs. Philena Catlin. Her son, Thomas Dean 
Catlin, acquired his education at Hamilton Col- 
lege, graduating in 1837. He is still a member 
of the college societ_\- known as Signa Phi. 

In 1838 he came to Ottaw.a. llHuois, and ob- 



tainetl employment with the Chicago, Rock Isl- 
and & Pacific Railroad. His connection with the 
establishment of telegraphic communication is 
historical. He became secretary of the Illinois 
& Mississippi Telegraph Company, established in 
1849, ^'"'^ "f tht first in the west, and owner <if 
telegraph patents over several western states, con- 
trolling the business of this section. In 1867, 
they leased the lines of the company to the West- 
ern Union Telegraph Company autl Air. Catlin 
is still secretary and treasurer of the cumijau}'. 
In 1867 Mr. Catlin organized the Ottawa Glass 
Company, of which he was secretary and treas- 
urer. The company sold its plant in 1889 to the 
United Glass Company, a corpi^iration capitalized 
at $1,250,000, and owning various factories. Of 
this company Mr. Catlin was president for nine 
years. In 1884 Mr. Catlin was elected vice-pres- 
ident of the National City Bank of Ottawa, 
and in 1890, after the death of Air. E. C. Allen, 
the former president, Mr. Catlin was elected 
president, a position he still fills. This bank is 
one of the soundest financial institutions in the 
state. 

In 1886 Mr. Catlin was married to Miss 
Helen C. Plant, of Utica, New York, a member 
of one of the old and honored families of New 
York state, and is connected with the Daughters 
of the Revolution. Their only child is James 
Plant Catlin. 

Mr. Catlin is connected with many public in- 
terests in ()tta\\;i. lie is a mfuiber nf tlic h'irst 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 495 

Congregational cliurch, and is serving as one of of trustees of Hamilton College of Clinton, New 

the deacons, and was a trustee of the public York. 

library of Ottawa at its organization. He is Politically he is a stanch Republican and has 

president of the board of trustees, of the Ryburn served as aldennan, and as a menilier of the 

Mcmiiria! Hnsi)ital, and is a ineniljcr nf the board board of education. 




GEORGE R. PECK 

, CHICAGO, ILL. 

George R. Peck is one of the eastern-bom 960,000 acres of land. The energy and skill with 
men wdio, while still in the prime of life, have at- which Mr. Peck conducted this and other import- 
tained eminence in the political, legal and social ant suits for the government soon led to his rec- 
lile of the great West. With no educational ad- ognition as the leading lawyer of the state. In 
vantages utber tlian tlmse the common school and 1879 it became apparent to him that far greater 
academies of half a century ago emoluments than those of a government office, 
aft'iirded. Mr. Peck had fitted however honorable its character, awaited his re- 
liimself to serve as a teacher be- turn to private practice. He therefore withdrew 
fore he reached his seventeenth from public life and, in i8<Si, was appointed gen- 
birthday. At the age of nineteen eral solicitor for the Atchison, Toi>eka & Santa 
he enlisted as a private in the Ee Railroad Company, and from then until 1895, 
I^^irst Wisconsin Heavy Artillery. with the exception of two years, managed the 
Later he was promoted lieutenant legal affairs of that great corporation. While 
and captain of the Thirty-first resident in Kansas Mr. Peck attained enuuence 
Wisconsin Infantry, marched in the management of the higher issues of ix>li- 
w ith Sherman to the sea, and, after three years tics. WHien in the early months of 1893, uix>n 
of active service in the field, at the age of twent\-- the accession of Governor Lewelling to' power, 
two, put himself in training for participation in the capitol of Topeka was filled with angry legis- 
those great forensic battles that have made h'is lators, manv of whom were as reatly to draw 
name famous in the courts. He silent six years weapons as tO' produce arguments, and the State 
as a law student, law^ clerk and practicing lawyer House and surrounding grounds were more like 
in Janesville, Wisconsin, and then sought a an armed camp than the gathering place of law- 
broader field of action in Kansas, where, from yers, Mr. Peck's force of character was made 
1 87 1 to 1874, he occupied a leading jKJsition at manifest, and by his wise counsel and resolute 
the bar in the then pnvminent town of Indepen- courage temporary anarcli)- with its un\-arying 
dence. In January of the latter year President accompaniment of bloodshed was averted. For 
Grant appointed him United States attorney for ten years Mr. Peck was one of the leaders of the 
the district of Kansas, with' headquarters at To- Republican party in Kansas. In 1892, upon the 
]>eka. Within a month of the date of his appoint- death of Senator Plumb, Governor Humphrey 
ment he was instructed by the attorney-general offered the vacant seat to Mr. Peck, but the splen- 
at W^ashingtou' to bring a suit for the establish- did honor was declined, 
ment of the claim of the federal government to In September, 1894, Mr. Peck resigned the 



496 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



general sulicitorsliip nf tlie Atchison system of 
roads, and accepted tlie position of general coun- 
sel of the Chicago. Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail- 
way Company. Judge Caldwell, of the Eighth 
United States Judicial Circuit, in accepting the 
resignation of Mr. Peck, passed a warm eulogium 
upon his manageiuent of the legal affairs of the 
AlchisdU, Tiipeka ^ Santa Fe Railway, and ex- 
pressed a hope that the henefit of his counsel 
would be extended to it during tlie period of 
reorganization throiigh which it was then- 
passing. 



Amid his \arii)us occupations as solicitor, 
statesman and lawyer. Mr. Peck has cherished a 
Icve of letters. He has been honr)red by twn uni- 
versities with the degree of LL. D.. and his ora- 
tions before the students and faculty of Knox 
College in 1894 and before the University of Vir- 
ginia in 1895 were [irinted and cnnimcnted upon 
In the leading newspapers of Virginia. Texas. 
Kansas and llliiiciis. Mr. Peck was Imrn in Steu- 
ben county. New York, in 1843. and thus is still 
in the i)rime of life, the future of which may be 
predicted from its past. 



MERRITT STARR 

CHICAGO, ILL. 
By Hon. E. B. Sherman 



Merritt Starr is one of the sons of the Em- 
pire state who has achieved emiaice in this great 
commiinwealth. A native of Ellington, Chautau- 
qua county. New York, he is a descendant in the 
ninth generation of Dr. Comfort Starr, of x\sh- 
ford. Kent, England, who in 1635 crossed the At- 
lantic in the sailing vessel Hercules and took up 
his residence in Boston, and whose second son. 
Comfort Starr, A. M., of l-'mmanuel's College, 
Cambridge University, was one of the founders 
and a meml)er of the Charter Board of Fellows 
of Harvard College. On the maternal side Mr. 
Starr is descended from John \\'illi;ims, who 
was a member of the Rhode Psland Senate dur- 
ing the Re\'olutionary war, and grandson of 
Roger Williams, the founder of the colony of 
Rhode Island. Both of the families were rep- 
resented in the American army during the strug- 
gle for indei>endence. 

In his early boyhood Mr. Starr's parents re- 
moved to Rock Island, Illinois, where he attended 
school preparatory to entering Griswold College 
at Daveni>ort, low-a. Later he was a student in 
01>erlin College, from which he received the de- 



gree of A. P), in 1875. Having become imliucd 
with the desire to enter the legal profession, he 
read law for three years in the office of the at- 
torneys for the Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy 
Railroad Company, and in 1878 entered the col- 
lege and law department of Har\'ard University, 
at which he graduated in 1881, receiving simul- 
taneously the degrees oi Bachelor of Arts and 
Bachelor of Laws. The degree of Master of Arts 
was subsequently conferred upon him by Oberlin 
College. Upon graduation at Harvard Mr. Starr 
came at once to Chicago, was admitted id the liar 
and entered ujion a successful professional career. 
His first professional work was prejiaration of 
briefs for some of the prominent attorneys O'f 
Chicago. While he was thus engaged he pre- 
pared and ])ublishc(l some valuable contributions 
to legal literature. Anicug these are Starr's 
Reference Digest of \\'isconsin Reports, the ])rac- 
tice chapters in the treatise known as (iould on 
the Law I if Waters: and in conncctiim with the 
late R. H. Curtis, Starr & Curtis' Anno-tated 
Statutes of Illinois. He was the first editor of 
the decisions of the supreme court of Illinois for 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



497 



tlie Niirlliwestoni Kcixn'tcr, and held tlial [XJsi- 
titiii fur two. years, at the end nf which time 
he was forced 1:}- the demands of <;rowin,n' private 
Inisiness tO' resign it. He has been a frexinent 
contrii^utor tO' legal pnblications. is an orator of 
recognized a])ility. and is listened to often with 
l)leasure Ijy local clnbs. law societies and popnlar 
audiences. On the suspension of the Indiana hanks 
in 1883, he conducted the litigation carried on in 
Cliicago on behalf of their creditors and estal3- 
lished in the supreme court of Illinois tlie then 
ni)vel doctrine that banks nuist hold the entire 
funds of the garnished depositor for the benefit 
of all the creditors who may thereafter perfect 
claims under the statute. In these important and 
warmly contested cases he met the late \\'. C. 
Goudy, the firm of Jewett, Norton & Earned, 
and other leaders of the Chicagi> bar. Mr. Starr 
was honored with the friendshi]) of the late Cory- 
don Beckwith, late judge of the supreme coin't 
of Illinois, and assisted him in im])nrtant matters. 
In 1890 he formed a i)artnershi]) with the Iloti. 
John S. Miller, e.x-corporation counsel of Chi- 
cago, and e.x-Senator Henry W. Leman, under 
the firm name of Miller, Starr & Leman. Two 
years later the junior meml>er of the firm retired, 
and Messrs. Miller and Starr continued their 
business relations, and in the autumn of 1893 
Ijecame associated with Col. George R. Peck, 
then general solicitor of the Atchison, Topeka 
& Santa Fe Railway Company, and more recently 
general counsel for the Chicago Milwaukee & 
St. Paul Railway Company. The firm of Peck, 
Miller & Starr occupies a prominent position at 
the Chicago bar. It has for years represented 
the Railway Conductors" Association and the 
Chicago Live Stock Exchange, the latter being 
charged with the duty of protecting the rights 
of stock shippers and commission men of Chi- 
cago, against a combination of large ranch own- 
ers and other corporate interests, — the firm thus 
representing both corporations and laboring men. 



The firm has als(t acted as the legal counsel for 
the Chicago Public Library Hoard, Chicago Gen- 
eral Railway Company, the Mercantile Trust 
Company of New York, the Boston Safety De- 
posit & Trust Compau}', and other equally large 
curprirations. 

Mr. Starr has taken part in such cases as the 
National Bank of .\merica vs. The Indiana 
Banking Company; the extended tunnel litiga- 
tion leading to the tunneling of Chicago' river 
for pri\'ate enterprise; the injunction, franchise 
and right-of-way litigation of the Chicago Gen- 
eral Railway Company; the foreclosure of the 
Jacksonville, Louisville & St. Louis Railroad 
Company, Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Railroad 
Company and the Topeka Water Company; such 
public and municipal litigation as that establish- 
ing the validity of the municipal organization of 
North Chicago; the Swift-Hopkins election con- 
test; the Northwestern Land Tunnel litigation 
against the city of Chicago, and the receivership 
of the Northwestern Life Assurance Company. 

As a lawyer Mr. Starr is distinguished for 
clearness of perception, tireless industry and 
keen discrimination. In an important case his 
brief gives evidence of exhaustive research, legal 
acumen, forcible statement and faultless logic. 
But Mr. Starr is not content with being simply 
a lawver. He is a man of wide and generous 
culture. A great reader, he is familiar with the 
best books, classical and modern, and is blessed 
with a memory loyal to its trust, by which he 
can. when occasion demands, bring forth from 
the rich store house of the world's wdsdom treas- 
ures new and old. Not unfamiliar with art, 
science and philosophy, his great delight is in 
the domain of literature, wdierein he finds rest 
from professional toil. He is a true and stead- 
fast friend, a genial companion, prizing all the 
amenities and courtesies that make life pleasant 
and friendship valuable. 

Recognizing his obligations as a citizen, Mr. 



498 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Starr lias taken an acti\-e part in e\ery effort 
to improve municipal gi i\crnmcnt, and labored 
earnestly in securing the passage of the law by 
which the merit system has become operative in 
Chicago. He adheres to the principles of the 
Republican party, and is connected with various 
societies and organizations for the promotion of 
social, literary and i)hilanthropic aims and pur- 
poses, and is a member of the Union League 
Club, the Chicago Literary Club, the Congrega- 
tional Club, the Chicag-o Bar Association, the 
Illinois State Bar Association, the American Bar 
Association, and the Chicago Law Institute, of 



which latter he was president for two terms. He 
is also a trustee of Oberlin College and keeps 
in close touch with Harvard University, his 
cherished alma mater. For two tenns he has 
represented W'innetka in the Xew Trier town- 
ship board of education, in charge of the Xorth 
Shore high school. 

Mr. Starr was united in marriage September 
8, 1885, to Miss Lelia Wbeelock, of Cleveland, 
who was a fellow student in Oberlin College. 
Mrs. Starr is a member of the Chicago Woman's 
Club and takes an active interest in literary and 
philanthropic work. 



EMERY B. MOORE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Emery Brown Moore, long and favoraljly artistic beauty, faultless construction and great 

known as one of the representative business men durability. 

of Chicago, is a man of marked individuality, Mr. Moore was born in W'hately, ]\Iassachu- 
conscrxatism and excelleiU business ability, while setts, and is the son of James and Fidelia ( Bard- 
his sterling honestv and integritv win for him the well) Moore. He is of colonial stock, his ances- 
res])ect and esteem of all. Mr. Moore decided tors being identified with American history. His 
early in life tt> make Chicago the lield of his op- great-grandfather, Xordi Bardwell. was an officer 
erations, the marvelous citv whose resources have in the Re\'olntionar\ war. ]\lr. Moore's early 
.in.creased so wonderfully as to attract the atten- education was recei\-ed in the public schools and 
tion of the world. Mr. Moore arrived in the city the Wilbrahani Academy at Whately. He first 
soon after it had arisen from the ashes of the started out as a Ixjokkeeper at twenty-one years 
great fire, and estalilished the enterprise that has of age, and at twenty-four we find him at the 
grown with the cit}''s growth, until a great Inisi- head of the firm of I. S. Parsons & Company at 
ness has been built up. Mr. Moore is now the Florence, Massachusetts. His health being some- 
largest individual dealer of wood and parquet what impaired, he decided to take a rest and coane 
floors in the United States, and also deals largely west to seek a witler field for his enterprise and 
in hard lumber. It has not only needed good energy. He reached Chicago in 1871, and estab- 
business rerpnrements. but artistic .sense as well, liehed the business that has gnnvn to its pres- 
to liring the business to its present successful con- ent great proportions and made his name known 
dition, as a high style of art is used both in the all over the country. 

design and construction of this class of work. In his private life Mr. IMoore is the model 
He manufactures great quantities of beautifully of the thorough gentleman and the soul of genial- 
designed floor materials. The work done under ity. It is this quality, added to his pleasing con- 
his name has 1:)ecome known everywhere for its versational po^vers, that makes him so great a 




T/C 



V* 



A. 





wn^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



501 



favorite in business and home circles. He is 
always ready to sacrifice personal comfort and his 
own interests to promote any undertaking he be- 
lieves to be for the best welfare of his home town 
of Austin, Illinois. He takes a deep interest in 
the First Presbyterian church, of which he is an 
elder and trustee. 

Mr. Moore is a man widely traveled and a 
valued member of \arious social organizations. 



He was the president of the board of education, 
school district No. 2, Cicero, from 1892 to 1896, 
and is the treasurer of the Royal Arcanum Na- 
ticjnal Union. 

Mr. Moore was married to Susan Ella Smith, 
of Northampton, Massachusetts, November 28, 
1867. They have a keen appreciation of the 
hip'her fomis of art and their beautiful home in 
Austin is the center of a cultured society circle. 



EDWARD SAMUEL LACEY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




Edward S. Lacey, president of the Bankers' 
National Bank of Chicago, enjoys a national 
reputation as an able financier, and has won his 
way to his present honored position in the busi- 
ness, social and political world through his pre- 
eminent ])erse\-erance, foresight 
and integrity. He was born in 
the town of Chili, Monroe coun- 
ty. New York, November 2(). 
1835, and is a son of Edward 
DeWitt and M,-irtli;i C. Pixley 
Lacey. 

Edward D. Lacey was l)orn 
in Bennington, Vermont, and 
(lied at Charlotte, Michigan, No- 
vember (>, 1862, aged nearlv fifty-three years. 
He possessed in a notable degree those (|ualities 
of integrity, intelligence and tenacitv of purpiise 
for which the people o'f the Green Mountain 
.'^tate are notable. He removed with his parents 
to Monroe county. New "S'ork, when but ten years 
of age, and was educated at Henrietta, in that 
state. 

The subject of this l)iography was about 
seven years old wdien the family settled in Eaton 
county, Michigan, where he continued to reside 
until 1889. He was educated at the public 
schools and Olivet College. At the age of eight- 



een years he began his business career as clerk in 
a general store at Kalamazoo, Michigan. 

In 1857 he returned to his home at Charlotte, 
Michigtan, and jn 1862, in partnership with 
Hon. Joseph Musgraxe, established a private 
bank, which became in 1871 the First National 
Bank of Charlotte. He was the active manager 
of the instituticjii from its organization, officiat- 
ing as director and cashier, and upon the death 
ui Mr. Musgrave became its president. He was 
distinguished fur ability and thoroughness in 
methods, and I>ecame identified with many im- 
portant business interests. He was a director, 
and for many years treasurer of the Grand River 
Vallev Railroad Company, which he helped or- 
ganize. 

His first official position was that of register 
of deeds of Eaton count}-, which he held for four 
years, beginning in i860. In 1874 the governor 
of Michigan apix>inted him a trustee of the State 
Asvlum for the Insane and he continued to fill 
this i)osition for six years. In 1876 he was a 
delegate to the national Republican convention 
at Cincinnati, and from 1882 to 1884 was chair- 
man of the Republican state central committee 
of Michigan. He also served as the first mayor 
01 Charlotte, and assisted in augmenting its ex- 
cellent system of public ini])rovements. In 1880 



502 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



he was elected to congress fnnii tlie third Michi- 
gan (Hstrict, and served two terms. He was 
nciniinated 1)\' acclamatiim and elected l>y a vote 
far ahead cf his ticket in each instance. He de- 
clined to accept the candidacy for a third term, 
hut in 1886 hecame a candidate for the United 
Slates Senate, in which he was unsuccessful, al- 
thoug'h he showed great strength and popularity. 
In congress he ser\ed on the cummittee on 
pcstoffices and postroads, and coinage, weights 
ar.d measures ; but he was distingnisiied chiefly 
through the ability displayed in the consideration 
of financial questions. In the forty-eighth con- 
gress he attracted wide attentimi by a masterly 
speech on the siKer question. His address on the 
use of siKer as money, delivered before the 
American Bankers' AssociaitJon in Chicago in 
1885, was recei\e(l with marked attention, and 
increased his pnpularitv among financiers. His 
priMiiinence in monetary circles caused him to be 
recommended fi;r the position of comptroller of 
the currenc} , to which he was appointed in 1889. 



This ofilice. so far as regards national finance, is 
second onl\- to that of secretary of the treasury. 
His administrati'in. extending frum 1889 to 
1892; he resigned in June, 1892, to accept the 
presidency of the Farmers' Xatidual r.;uik nf 
that city. 

On New Year's day, 1861, Mr. Lacey mar- 
ried Miss Annette C. Musgra\-e. daughter uf his 
business partner, Hon. Joseph Musgra\e. of 
Cbarlotte, Michigan. Two daughters and a son, 
named Jessie P., Edith M. and Edward Mus- 
grave, complete the famdly. Since coming to 
Cook county the family has resided at Evans- 
tun, where it is identified with the First Congre- 
gational church. Mr. Lacey is a member of the 
Society of the Sons of the American Revolutinn. 
the Union League Club, Bankers' Club (of which 
he has been president). Bankers' Athletic Associ- 
ation, Evanston Club and Evanston Country 
Club. He has always been an enthusiastic Re- 
publican, and wields a strong influence in the 
l)arty councils. 



JAY J. THOMPSON, M. D. 

CHICAGO ILL. 



.\miitig the able and pii iniincnt members of 
the medical profession and a practitiuner of re- 
nown is Dr. Jav J. Thompson. 

Jay J. Thompson is a son nf Juds<.in and 
Lydia M. ( Berry) Tliompson. and w as born near 
Rochester. Minnesota, January 21. 1857. On 
his maternal side he traces his ancestry back to 
the Pilgrims, and his father's family being 
among the earliest settlers of X'ermont. Dr. 
Thompson's father came west from Onondaga 
C( unt\-. Xew ^'ork. to Wisconsin at the age of 
sixteen and settled at Xeenah. Afer his marriage 
he moved to Minnesota, where Jay J. was born. 
The serious Indian troubles of this time caused 
the family to move back to Wisconsin when the 



son was two vears of age, and where the father 
has resided every since. 

Dr. Thompson's early education was such as 
the best local schools afforded and in time he en- 
tered the Lawrence University at Appleton, Wis- 
cimsin, leaving, however, at the age of twenty- 
one years to accept a i»sition as teacher in the 
public schools. He filled the position of prin- 
cipal in several schools throughout the .state, and 
became well and very favorably known as an e<:lu- 
cator. In 18S2 Dr. Thompson was called back 
to Appleton to take charge of one of the public 
schools of that city as principal. While serving 
in that capacity he devoted all his spare time to 
the study of medicine, and during his last year of 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



505 



ttacliint^' lie was uiuIlt tlic tutelas^e nf Dr. Reilcy, 
a ])li\'sician of tlie res^ular scIkhiI. 

He then came Ui Cliicai;(} anil cuntinueil his 
medical studies, enterint;' the Honienpathic Col- 
lege and graduated fnni that institutii)ii with 
the class of 1888. After graduating Dr. Thnmp- 
siin was fur three years associated with Dr. E. 
H. I'ratl in the nianagenient of the Lincoln Park 
Sanitarium. Xot being altog-ether in harmoiiy 
with his associates lie sold his interest in the fall 
of 1891 and spent six months in tra\el in Ein"i)i>e, 
returning in 1892. 

Resuming practice he made a specialty of 
gynecological, rectal and genilo^urinary surgery, 
in wliich liranches he has achie\ed a high repu- 
tation, in the fall of 189J Dr. Thompson \vas 
appointed to the chair of Orificial and Plastic 
Surgery in the National Homeopathic Medical 
College, and also as gynecologist and rectal sur- 
geon to the Baptist Hospital of Chicago. He 
has also^ served as president of the Cook County 
Homeopathic ^ledical Society and a member of 
the .American Institute of Homeopathy, and pres- 



ident of the Illinois State I lomeop;iiliic .Medical 
Association, chairman of the Ihireau of .Sur- 
gery in the organization last named. Xow' pro- 
fessor of siu'gcry and surgical gvnaecologisl in 
Herring- Medical College, gynaecologist to the 
Frances WilLard National Temperance Hospital, 
gynaecologist to St. .\nlhon\'s i'olish Hosjiital, 
gynaecologist to National lunergency lIos])ilal. 
He is a contributor to stand.ard medical litera- 
ture, being himself the author of several mono- 
graphs, which have been widely circulated. 
Among Some mav be mentioned "Medicine and 
Morals," "Use and Alnise of Orificial Surgery," 
"Circumcision — History, Necessity and Dene- 
ticial Effects," and "Rectal Irritation as a Source 
of Disease." Politically Dr. Thompson is in- 
de[)en(lent. tli<iugh as touching economical 
afTairs in the nature vA a protectionist in principle. 
Religiously he was reared a Baptist, but is now 
a regular attendant of the Pres1)yterian church. 
He was married at the age of tw-enty-four to 
Miss Marv S. Hull, of Neenah. \\'isconsin. 
Thev ha\-e a son. Roy Artluu" Thompson. 



JULIUS GOLDZIER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Hon. Julius Goldzier, lawyer, alderman 
member of congress and senior member of the 
law firm of Goldzier, Rogers & Froehlich, with 
offices in the Chamber of Comiuerce liuilding. 
Chicago is one of the best-known men of that 




to the United .States in tS^f) and to Chicago 
in 1S72; was admitted to the bar in 1877: 
and has practiced law in Chicago e\-er since 
with marked success. Mr. (roldzier was elected 
alderman o'f Chicago and served as such 
city. His political career has from 1890 to 1892; was elected member of con- 
been alike able and honorable. gre.ss from the fourth district of Illinois (fifty- 
and he is an earnest advocate of thin:l congress), serving from 1893 to 1895: 
demc cratic iirincijiles. and again elected alderman for 1899, 1900 and 

Julius (ii Idzier was born :it 1902. 
Vienna, .\uslria. January 20, He is a Mason and has been since 18/9, and 

1854. and is a son of Philip and jxiliticallv a Democrat, standing high in the 
Mathildc (loldzier. He was ci uncils of his party. 

educated in the common schools Juliu.s Goldzier was married October 20, 

of \'ienna and New York; came 1877, to Miss Clara Lemien. 



5o6 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



MARTIN VAN ALLEN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Martin \'an Allen, son of Cornelius anil Lora 
A. (Ackerman) Van Allen, was Ixirn in Jeffer- 
son county, New York, on the ()tli of July, 1832. 
His father's family came to< this country during 
the war of the Revolution and his mother's with 
the early pilgrims. Both families settled in Jef- 
ferson county, NcAv York, and there our subject 
passed the early _\ears of his life. His educa- 
tion was acquired in the public schools and he 
also took a three years' course in Falley Sem- 
inary at Fulton, New York. In the seminary he 
devoted almost his entire time to mathematics, 
and thoroughl\- fitted himself as a civil engineer. 
( )ii lea\ing schiwil he obtained employment with 
the engineering corps of the Utica & Black River 
ivailroad and after that came west, where he was 
first engaged on the L^nited States government 
surveys in Wisconsin and Minnesota. In the 
year 1855 he engaged with the Illinois Central 
Railroad, and three years later with the Du- 
l)U(pie & Sioux City Railroad, in 1S60 with the 
Burlington, and in 1862 with the Chicago' & 
Alton Railroad. 

In the meantime ]\Ir. Xim Allen had been gi\- 
ing his spare time and attention to the real estate 
business, in which he had been investing from 
time to time, and alter he resigned his position 
as engineer in charge of the work of widening 
and dequeuing the Illinois and Michigan canal. 
he has devotetl all of his attention to his real es- 
tate business. Mr. Van Allen was connected 
(piite prominently with a patriotic organization 
known as the "Strong Band," which was formed 
in 1863 for the purpose of promoting enlist- 
ments in the Union army, and also for coimter- 
acting the effects of such organizations as the 
"Knights of the Golden Circle," and others who 
were at that time prominent and inclined, if let 
alone, to active and offensive partisanship. They 



also effectively served the general government 
by preventing the freeing of Confederate prison- 
ers confined in the north and by giving informa- 
tion of proposed movements against the govern- 
ment. In this organization Mr. Van Allen was 
at first an ensign, but he later held the position 
c>f lieutenant, captain, colonel, brigadier-general 
and major-general, and was one of the sixteen 
persons who constituted the board of control, 
who had the entire management of the order, 
which had a list of over one million members 
scattered throughout the entire north. He 
joined the A. F. & A. M. in August, 1867, and 
later took the degrees in W^ashington Chapter, 
R. A. M. Mr. \'an Allen cast his first presidential 
\-ote for Jobn C. Fremont. He has never sought 
public office, though in 1871 he was elected town 
assessor of Lake View and town engineer in 
i88j, and also served as school trustee in 1870. 
]\fr. Vim Allen is not a member of any church, 
li.-iving a belief entirely different from the dog- 
mas of any of the organized churches. Never- 
theless, none arc more generous in contributing 
to church work, and an appeal for charity is 
never addressed to him in vain. Besides his real 
estate business he has taken an active interest in 
building and loan associations, and has been the 
president of the Surety, of Chicago, and also 
general manager of the St. Charles Land Asso- 
ciation. 

On the 1 2th day of October, 1857, Mr. Van 
Allen was married to ]\Iiss Martha Bowen. in 
St. Lawrence county. New York. Mrs. Van 
Allen is on her mother's side descended from 
Tames Wilson, who was for thirty years a mem- 
ber of the Provincial Parliament of Canada, and 
on her father's side she traces her ancestry back 
through the Warwicks, the king-makers of Eng- 
land, the first Plantagenets and the family of 




^""h^rrnn P„b. Ce.C\'=tf* 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



509 



William the Conquerer to Drogo de Montacutu, 
w'lio was a prominent officer and personal atl- 
viser of William the Conqnerer, and who came 
from France with that monarch. I'rom Droigo 
de Muntacut(j the line is traced hack tO' some of 
the Norsemen who' settled in Normandy in the 
eighth century. They have four children, three 
of whom are now living, the fourth having died 
in infancy. The eldest, Miss Jennie, is a journalist 
in Chicago. The only son, Frank, is a physician 
now doing medical missionary work in South 
India, while the youngest, JNIiss Martha, is teach- 
ing vocal and instrumental music in Wisconsin, 



For many years Martin Van Allen has Ijeen a 
prominent figure in Chicagoi business circles and 
was probal:)!}' the first man to broach the subject 
of drainage in what is now the drainage district 
of Cook county. On this subject he was deeply 
interested and wrote several articles, which were 
published in the daily papers as early as 1863 
and at different times at later periods. He has 
been connected with Chicago during the better 
part of his life and has done as much as any other 
man towards helping along the different enter- 
prises that have brought the city to its present 
prominent standing. 



HON. ELBRIDGE HANECY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Judge Hanecy was born in Wiscijnsin on the 
15th of March, 1852, and is a son of William 
and Mai-y (Wales) Hanecy, who were natives of 
Massachusetts, ivom which state they removed 
to Wisconsin about 1850. The father served in 
the Mexican war as a non-com- 
missioned officer and was en- 
rk gaged in mercantile pursuits in 
T^ Springfield, Massachusetts, prior 
W to his removal to the west. On 
/t* his arrival in Wisconsin he pur- 
^ cha.sed a tract of land in Dodge 
county, where he carried on ag- 
^_ ricultural pursuits until his death 

in 1852. 
The Judge acquired his ])reliniinarv educa- 
tion in the common schools of his native state 
and afterwards pursued his studies in the Col- 
lege of Milwaukee. Reading and study has ever 
Ijeen with him a source of delight and he is a 
man of broad general infi>rmation. 

His connecticjn with Chicago dates from 
1869, when he came to this city and accepted a 



position with the firm of Field, Leiter & Com- 
pany, with whom he remained until after the 
luemorable fire of 1871. He was afterwards 
with John D. Farwell & Company for a short 
time, but wishing to enter a broader field of 
labor and one more congenial to his tastes, he 
engaged in the study of law in the office of 
Hervey, Anthony & (ialt, under whose precq)tor- 
ship he continued his preparatory reading until 
his admission to the bar, September 11, 1874, 
wdien he immediately entered upon the practice 
of his chosen profession. In 1889 lie formed a 
partnership with George P. JMerrick, who had 
formerly been a law student in his office and the 
firm of Hanecy & Merrick continued at the head 
of a large and successful law business until the 
election of the fonner to the circuit bench. In 
his profession he is an untiring worker, and 
while in active practice prepared his cases witl: 
the utmost regard to the detail of facts and the 
law involved. 

On the bench his administration has been 
uniformly marked liy commendalile dignity and 



5IO 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



the most scrupulous reg^ard to justice. He limks mcu.sly — for the adjustment of differences be- 



upon tlie law as a system of social and political 
philo'sophv and not as a collection of arbitrary 
rules foamdecl on technical distinction. His 
style as a judge is clear, accurate and concise, 
and in readings his opinions no doubt is left in 



tween the Bricklayers and Stonemasons Union 
and their employers, a fact that shows how great- 
ly his fair-mindedness is regarded in the com- 
munity. 

On the 1st of March, iS/f), the Judge was 
tlie mind as to the point decided. His language married to Miss Sarah I'arton, a daughter of 
is chaste ;md forcible, while his composition is a William .\. llarton. and thev have six children; 
model of judicial statement. He sat as judge Olive. lulith. Ruth. M\ra, Hazel and Harriette. 
from December, 1893, to Jidy, 1895, when be Their only son is deceased. The Judge is proni- 
vvas assigned as a chancellor of the circuit, which inently identified with a number of social clubs, 
position he held until Septeml>er, 1897. ^^ including the Union League. Chicago Athletic 
was three times elected referee of the board of and \\'ashington Park Clubs and the Hamilton 
arbitral ii's--tbe second and third terms unani- Club. 



DR. FERNAND HENROTIN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

It is pleasant to trace the history of the life was connected with the Rush ^Medical College, 

of an eminent and successful man; one who by after which he served two yKU's as county physi- 

native force and hard study has won his present cian of Cook county. Then he became surgeon 

position as a leader in his profession. Dr. Hen- of the police and fire departments. He remained 

n.tin is a man of strong, decisive character and connected with the former fifteen years and the 

one of the foremost surgeo-ns in .America, whose latter twenty-one years; for a number of years he 

gratifying position has been achieved through also served as surgeon of the First Brigade of the 

lu-.tiring de\otion toi a noble ])ro'fession. Illinois National Guard. He was connected with 

['"ernand Henrotin was born in Brussels. Bel- the medical staff' of the County Hospital as physi- 
cian for several years, and later as gynecologist. 
.\l ])rc^cnt the Doctor is surgeon at the Alexian 
Brothers' Hospital, gynecologist at the Chicago 

old citizens of Chicago as one of the prominent Polyclinic and consulting gynecologist at St. Jo- 

l)ractitioners from 1847 to 1873. st-ph's Hospital, as well as acting g}-necoiogist at 

Dr. hVrnand Ilennitin received his cducatinn the German and St. Luke's Hospitals. With all 
entirely in Chicago, and after graduating from these positions, he manages a \cry large practice, 
tlie high school studied medicine at Rush Aledi- almost entirely surgical, and finds time to do an 
cal College, and graduated in 1868 after a three- incredible amount of society wurk. 
years course. From the very evening of his grad- Dr. Henrotin is a member of all the local 
nation be has led a most active professional life. societies, and of the most prominent national so- 
arid is fond of claiming that he never lost a day cieties, and was for many years secretary-gener;U 
from physical disability in over thirty-your years for America of the International Gynecological 
of practice. For two years after graduation be and Obstetrical Congress. He was elected presi- 



gium, September 28, 1847. I lis father and grand- 
father were buth physicians, the former, J. F. 
Henrotin, being still well remembered among the 





^.(f7^£..r^J^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



5J3 



ilciii 111" the Chicago AlwUcal Sucict)- in iSyj, 
unaniniDUsly re-elected the foUoiwing; year, but de- 
ch'iied tu serve, l>elie\'ing" there sin mid he nitatiini 
ill office. 

He has written many nmnographs of im- 
portance, which have made his name well known, 
most of tlian treating of gynecological subjects. 
The doctor is a worker, full of energy and prac- 
tical sense, and, as he fretjuently says, "The Iwys 
dont's forg-e very far ahead oi him yet." He is 
a broad-minded man, a, genial, helpful friend, 
with a kindly feeling towartl the world, never 
carrying resentment, hut withal, gifted with an 
excellent judgment and a large stock of good, 
e\ery-day common sense. His numerous articles 
on "Pelvic Septic Diseases in Women" have been 
cjuote'd the world over, and he was the first to 
perform a deliberate vaginal hysterectomy for 



supparati\e pcKic disease in America. His "Ec- 
topic ("lestatiiin in the Practice of 01>stetrics by 
American AutlKirs" and his treatment of the sub- 
ject of gynecohj'gy in "idle International i'e.xt- 
book of Surgery" are particularly worthy of note. 

In politics he has alway.s believed in perfect 
independaice of opinion, and votes according to 
liis intcrprctaliiin of the pending issues; a iniblic- 
spirited citizen, ixjssessed of bnjad and liberal 
views upon questions of common interest. .Such, 
in brief, is the record of one whose mental char- 
acteristics are of the solid and practical kind, 
although t)'f brilliant order. 

Dr. Henrotin was married in 1S73 to Miss 
Emile B. Prussing. They have nO' children, but 
their home is made happy by an unusually large 
circle of warm personal friends. Tliey reside on 
the north side, at No. 353 La Salle avenue. 



JAMES J. KELLY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 
Bv Harvey Strickler 



James J. Kelly was born March 21, 1871, in 
Chicago, Illinois. He is a son of Thomas Kelly 
and Ellen (Stapleton) Kelly. He received his edu- 
catidU in \arious educational institutions in Chi- 
cago and was graduated from the Northwestern 
Universit\- Law School in the 
class of '<J3. He is essentially 
a self-made man, lia\ing earned 
his education an<l ])resent high 
standing at the bar by hard wurk 
and faithful and diligent applica- 
tion and study. He has been in 
active practice since 1H93, and in 
that time has built u]) a large and 
lucrati\e clientage. .\s a trial 
lawyer he stands among- the leaders in his pm- 
fession, a ready debator, a logician of high order, 
which, with his natural forensic powers and 




ready wit, makes him an opponent to l)e admired 
and feared. 

His talents have not entirely been enlisted in 
tlie trial cases in the Inwer ctiurts. For se\'eral 
years he has been employed as counsel in impor- 
tant cases in the supreme and appellate courts O'f 
the state of Illinois, in which cases he has lia<l 
marked success. His wurk in this line shows 
careful pre])aratiiin and a wide and thorough 
knowledge. 

Although busy with professional duties, he 
finds time for social recreation. He is a mem- 
ber of the Inxjuois Club, the leading Democratic 
organizatiini of the iinrtliwest. the Sheridan Club 
ar.d b^llerslie Cross Country Club, and is priniii- 
nent in the order of Knights of Columbus. He 
is also a member of the State Bar Association 
and the Chicago Bar Association. He is genial. 



514 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



companionable, a good storv-teller and a warm tage tliereof a nature keenly responsive to poetry 

friend. While he has been acti\ely interested in and nuisic. fnmi which he derives his chief rec- 

the success of the Democratic party, he has never reation. 

lield ix>litical office. He is a Roman Catholic in He is at present associated with .\iulrew J. 

religion. Although tn the manor horn, Mr. Ryan in the i)ractice of the law. Mr. Kelly is 

Kellv is of stin-(l\- Irish stock, and has as a heri- a bachelor. 



JUDGE JESSE HOLDOM 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Judge Jesse Holdom was elected in 1898 to 
the bench of the superior court in Chicago, Illi- 
nois, and is a jurist of great ability and one whose 
talents have enabled him to maintain a foremo.st 
place in legal circles. He was born in London, 
England, August 23, 185 1, and is a son of Will- 
iam and Eliza (Merritt) Holdom. His ancestors 
were Huguenots, who fled from France on the 
eve of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and set- 
lied in that part of Lon(k)n called Spitalfiekls, in 
the year 1572. From that time until the birth 
of Judge Holdom, a period of nearly three hun- 
dred years, the Hokloms were all born in the 
same parish and within half a mile of the place 
where their ancestors originally .settled. 

Judge Holdom was educated in London, 
England, and when seventeen \eai-s of age 
crossed the .\tlantic to the United States, locating 
in Chicago in July, i8()8, ami where he has since 
resided. He scKin began the study of law, dili- 
gently applying himself to the mastery of the 
underlying principles of jurisprudence, and at the 
age of twenty entered the office of the late Judge 
Joshua C. KnickerlxKrker, under whose guidance 
he studied for two years, being admitted to the 
bar September 13, 1873, just after his twenty- 
second birthday. 

Law schools were not so popular then as now 
for the reason that they had not attained their 
present state of efticiency. l)ut more particularly 



because lawyers had not ceaseil to give their 
clerks and students careful and thorough train- 
ing in the elementary branches of the profession. 
Hence, a clerkshii) in the oflice of a prominent 
legal firm at that time was of considerable value. 
It was in an office of a firm of this kind that 
Judge Holdom went out into the legal world. 
For two years after his graduation in law he was 
chief clerk in the oiifice of Tenny, Flower & .\ber- 
combie, a firm at that time doing the largest bank- 
ruptcy and commercial business in Chicago, and 
here again he was much lienefitted through his 
personal contact with men of abilitv and high 
standing in the ])rofession. .\fter two years with 
lids firm he l)egan the practice of his profession 
akvne, and was successful from the start. In 
1878 he formed a partnership with a brother of 
Judge Knickerliocker, the firm being Knicker- 
iK'cker & Holdom, which continued until 1889, 
since which date and up to the time of his elec- 
tion to the bench of the snpreme court, in 1898, 
he practiced alone, and during this time of 
twenty-five years of active legal practice he estab- 
lished himself firmly in his profession and be- 
came one of the strongest men at the Chicago 
bar. His aggressive methods, together with his 
breadth of practical experience, gained him the 
reputation of being a formidable antagonist be- 
fore either court or jury, and during the ten 
vcars of this time when practicing alone he built 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Si? 



h]) an excellent practice, which was not conlined 
tn any specialty, although in matters of real 
estate and prohatc law his counsel was widely 
sought, while he was much consulted in probate 
cases and in litigated questions involving con- 
tests of wills. 

Upon the death of Judge Knickerljueker he 
was publicly mentioned for the vacant probate 
judgeship, and was afterward, without any per- 
sonal solicitation, appointed l>y Governor Fifer as 
public guardian, and at the Noveml^er election in 
iSgS was elected judge of the superior court, 
which high position he now holds. His judicial 
temperament, his natural ability and his equable 
disposition have enabled him tO' fill the office with 
credit, not alone to himself but to his constituents. 

Judge Holdom is a prominent memjjer of the 
Hamilton Club, of which he was president in 
1897. Under his management the club took a 
new start and moved downtown to' commodious 
cjuarters. He is also a member of the Union 
I-eague Club, and a menil)er oi its political action 
ctjmmittce. He has been secretary and treasurer 
and is one of the oldest members of the Law Club, 
and he is further identified with the American, 
Illinois and Chicago Bar Associations. He also 
holds mcnilicrship in the Marijuette, Ivenwood, 
Ca.xton and Midlothian Clubs, and in the Law- 
Institute, the Art Institute and the Field Colum- 
bi;m Museum. He is a vestryman of Trinity 
Episcopal church. 

Above all, Jndge Holdom is a literary and 
cultured gentleman. His scholarly tastes are in- 
dicated b}' a, large library of rare and old bwoks, 
as well as many de luxe and limited editions, 
which are his special delight, wdiile some O'f his 
hapi)iest hours are spent studving the works of 
master minds, which ha\c enriched his own 
storehouse of wisdom until he is regarded as one 
of the best-read lawyers in Chicagtx 

Politically he is a stanch Re]ni1)lican. In 
1896 he was a delegate tO' the .\mcrican l!ar .\s- 



sociation convention held in Saratoga, New 
^'(jrk. In Jul)-, 1900, Judge Holdom was elected 
president of the Illinoiis State Bar Association, a 
position of great honor, and previously held, suc- 
cessively, by General Benson Wood, Senator 
Trumbull, Senator J);ivid Davis, Chief Ju.stice 
Inillcr, Senator O. H. Browning and other 
equally noted men. In the records of the history 
of the Hamilton Club appears the following well- 
deserved tribute : 

"During the past year, 1897, the club has 
had, and still retains, as its president, Mr. Jesse 
Holdom, one of the Ijest-known :uid highlv re- 
spected lawyers of the bar of Chicago. It is 
largely due to> his untiring efforts in the club's 
bdialf that it has achicA-ed so much. The record 
of his administration is a record of brilliant ac- 
coni[)lishn-ients ; and in the face of the pretliction, 
f(<unded on past experience, that a ixjlitical club 
can only be made successful in political years. 

"Mr. Holdom has made the year now clo.sing 
one of the most brilliant in the history of the 
organization. It is not a matter of surprise, how-- 
ever, that such slionld be the case, for j\Ir. Hol- 
dom has never been known to fail in any under- 
taking to which he has lent his name and interest. 
The history of his life is a history of abilitv and 
integrity con(|uering e\-ery obstacle, and Mr. II ol- 
dom's present enviable position in this con-innm- 
ity to-day is an encouragement to every young 
man to 'dare to do right' at all times and places." 

Tlie Judge's ojiinions are regarded bv the pro- 
fession as models of judicial soundness, and at 
the same time he has the keenest consideration for 
the equity of the case and often ten-ipers justice 
with n-iercy. He is a man of broad principles, 
ar.d in his hands the individual can feel that every 
interest is safe and that the law- will be adnn'n- 
istered with the broadest intelligence and a keen 
regard for equity. He is, liy all, regarded as one 
of the ablest judges on the bench of the state of 
Illinois, 



25 



5i8 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



HENRY M. WOLF 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



Jlcnry .M. W'dlf nf the law lirni uf Dupee. 
Judah, Willard & Wolf, was born at Rock Island, 
Illinois, November 15, i860, and is a .son of 
Moses and Bertha Wolf. He removed to Chi- 



the bar, and in October, the same vear, became a 

member of the firm. 

Mr. Wolf soon gained recognition at the bar, 

and is regarded as a man of much ability; a 
cago with his parents when quite young, and successful lawyer, thoroughly skilled in the 
received his academic education in that city, science of his profession. He has appeared in 
graduating from the high school in 1878. many important cases and numbers among bis 
During the f(jllowing two years he studied clients some of the largest corporations of the 
under private tutors and at the old Chicago Uni- west. Mr. Wolf is a member of many social or- 
versity. ganizations and clubs, among them being Uni- 

In the spring of 1880 Mr, Wolf entered Yale versity, Chicago Athletic, Sunset, Yale and 
College, from wliich he graduated with tlie class Standard Clubs, He is a member of the Chicago 
of 1884. Me then returned to Chicago and be- Bar Ass<:>ciation, the Illinois State Bar .\ssocia- 
gan the study of law in the office of Dupee, tion and the Phi Beta Kappa and other College 
Tudah & Willard. In 1886, he was admitted to fraternities. ^Ir. Wolf is a bachelor. 



ALLAN A. GILBERT 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Mr. Allan A. (iilbert, of Gill)ert & Gilbert, 
attorneys, ranks high among the lawyers at the 
Illinois bar. He is a man of great natural abil- 
ity and resource, and as a member of his tirm 
contributes largely to its re])utation for the thor- 
oughness, ability and integrity 
which so signally characterize 
the discharge of its professional 
obligations, and have in a few 
sliort years made it one of the 
solid, reliable firms of the city. 
!\Ir. (iilbert possesses all the es- 
sential qualitications of an able 
lawyer, and from his first arri\al 
in Chicago, entered ui)on an 
c.iiiiienily successful career. 

Allan A. Gilbert was born at Sumter, South 
Carolina, .\ugust J4, i8C](); and is the son of Al- 




lan A. (jilbert and Sarah E. (iilbert. He re- 
ceived bis earlv education, graduating" from Yale 
University in 1890, He came to Chicago in the 
same year, being first admitted to the bar in Con- 
necticut, and afterwards to the bar of the state 
of Illinois, 

Mr, Gilbert is an acti\e member of several 
societies, a member of the Lnion League Club 
and of the Hamilton Club, of which be has been 
a director. He is also a member of the Inde- 
]iendent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Ma- 
sonic order. 

Politically Mr. Gilbert is a life-long Repub- 
lican, supporting his ]>arty"s principles at all 
times. He takes a deep interest in church work, 
being a member of the otticial board of St, 
James ]\Iethodist l^piscopal church, and a teacher 
in the Sundav-scbool. lie joined the Methodist 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



519 



cliurcli w hen twelve \-ears of age and lias been an 
active wnrker e\'er since. 

Mr. Gilbert was married to ^liss Grace J. 



Thnrstiin January 2, 1894, tlie only daughter of 
Dr. and Mrs. E. 11. Thurston, of Chicagd, They 
have one child, Allan A., jr. 



JUDGE ARTHUR HENRY CHETLAIN 



CHICAGO, ILL. 




In the hands of such an one as Judge Chet- 
lain the indi\idual and stale feel that every in.- 
terest is safe and that the law will be admin- 
istered with the broadest intelligence and with 
a just regard for ecjuity. He was born at Galena 
in 1S49 and is descended fromi a 
notable ancestry. His father, 
General Augustus L. Chetlain, is 
a Huguenot, of French-Swiss ex- 
traction, his parents having emi- 
grated to .\merica from the 
canton of Neufchatel, Switzer- 
land, in 1 82 1. They came by the 
way of Hudson Bay to Red river 
of the Selkirk settlement of Brit- 
ish .Vmerica. thence to St. Louis, Missouri, in 
1823. and in 1826 to the celebrated lead mines 
at Galena,, where the old homestead was founded. 
In that locality General Chetlain was reared and 
became the first commander of the regiment 
raised by General U. S. Grant. He participated 
in all the battles of his division of the war of the 
Rebellion, and when hostilities had ceased was 
brevetted major-general of volunteers. During 
President Grant's administration he was ap- 
pointed United States consul to Brussels, Bel- 
gium. 

He was the founder and first president nf the 
Chicago Home Natinnal Bank and was a ])romi- 
nent figure in business and military circles for 
}'ears. 

Judge Chetlain accjuired his iireliminarv edu- 
cation in the public schools, and then entered the 
Uni\'ersit"\' of \\'<isconsin, where, on the com- 



pletion of a two-}-ear course, he graduated, with 
the degree of B. A. In Brussels, Belgium, he 
completed his full course in natural science in the 
"Universite Libre," and won the degree of Bach- 
elor of Science. After his graduation at that 
institution he served as a bearer of dispatches be- 
tween the American legations of Paris, France, 
and the United States authorities in London, 
England, during the Franco-Prussian war. 

Returning to his native land in February, 
1 87 1, Judge Chetlain took up the study of law 
in the office of William LaLhrop, of Rockford, 
Illinois, and on passing an examination Ijefore 
the supreme court of the state, June 20, 1873, 
was admitted to the bar. Not content, however, 
with the prepai'atory training, he returned to 
Chicago and continued his studies in the law 
office of Edward A. Small. In July. 1874, he 
formed a ]xirtnership with Stephen S. Gregory,, 
which continued for fi\-e years, w hen it was con- 
solidated with the firm of Tenney & Flower, this 
relatioriship continuing until 1881. when Judge 
Clietlain was forced to withdraw on account of 
ill health. He then spent a year and a half in 
tra\el through the western states and Mexico 
for rest and recuperation, and in 1883 resumed 
liractice in Chicago. His practice co-\-ered a wide 
range, and in it he tra\'ersed the entire domain of 
law. Wliile a member nf the firm of Tenney & 
Flin\ er he ac(|uired a wide faniiliaritv with com- 
mercial and contract law and also with law of 
private corporations, .\fter his return to Chi- 
cago he was in general practice until tSqi. when 
he was appointed by ]\[ayor \\'ashburn first as- 



520 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



sistaiit corporation counsel. In tliat cajjucity he 
was called upon to assume active charge of a 
vast amount of litigation of the most important 
character. 

Judge Clietlain speaks and reads French, and 
has been counsel in Chicago for the French, Bel- 
gium and Turkish consulates. 

In 1892 he was nominated by the Republican 
party for judge of the supreme court and went 
tlowii to defeat with his party in the great tidal' 
wave of Democratic success which rolled ovei; 
the country. In 1893 he was again nominated 
for the sanile position, and in November of that 
year was elected to till the unexpired term of 
Judge George H. Kettelle, who died during the 
summer. Judge Chetlain has just been re-elected 
for another term, receiving a larger number of 
votes than any other judicial candidate on the 
ticket. 

He has been a painstaking, diligent and con- 



scientious judge and has earned and commands 
the respect and confidence of the bar and esteem 
of the community. 

Judge Chetlaiii is not connected with anv 
chtirch, though he is a man not only of iiigli 
])rinciple but of much genuine religious feeling. 
He has always been a Republican, active and in- 
tluential in the councils of his party; president 
of the Alarquette Club, and Februarv 12, 189G. 
at the great dinner given by that organization to 
\Mlliami McKinley prior to his nomination for 
the presidency, Judge Chetlain was the member 
of the club chosen to represent it among the 
speakers of the evening. He is not a partisan on 
the Ijench, and his political sentiments never color 
his judicial conduct. 

He is married and has an interesting famil\' 
of ti\-e children, and resides in the north dix'isicn 
of the city of Chicago, of which he has been a 
resident for o\-er t\\entv-fi\-e vears. 



JOHN B. MURPHY, A.M., M. D., LL. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Dr. John P.. Ahirphv is recognized as one of cal College, from which institution he graduated 

the greatest surgeons in the country. He is a in J879. 

man of strong character and one whose gratifying Dr. Murphy was a successful candidate in 

position has been achieved through untiring the competitive examination which entitled him 

efforts, hard study, combined with great .skill and to an interneship in Cock County Hospital. He 

ceaseless industrv. He is a striking representa- began his duties as resident physician and sm'- 

tive of the kind of men that are making Chicago geon in February of the same year, continuing 

the center of medical advancement and educatici.. until October, 1880. lie then engaged in private 

of the world. jjractice for a year or so. after which he went 'o 

Dr. Tohn B. Mur]jliy was born at Appleton. Europe, where, for nearly two years, he studied 
Wisconsin. Decentber 21, 18^7. Early in life he in the universities and hospitals of \'ienna, 
had decided to make medicine his life work and Mur,icb, Berlin and Heidelberg, accpiiring a valu- 
ta become a physician. Soon after graduating able experience from his ])ractical work in these 
from the high school he began his medical studies miedical centers of the old world, 
under the preceptorship of Dr. Jolui S. Reilly, a Dr. IMurphy returned to^ this country in the 
leading physician of .Vppleton. and subsequently spring of 1884, completely equipped in every 
he came to Chicago, where he entered Rush Medi- way to begin the career which awaited him, and 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



523 



rc^^unied his ])ractice in Chicago. His aljiHty as 
a surgeon was early recognized l)y tlie nieni1)ers 
oi his profession, and in tlie same year he was 
elected lecturer of surger)- in Rush Medical Col- 
lege and appointed attending surgeon to' Cook 
County Hospital, which position he has held con- 
tinmusK- since that time. Other honors were not 
slnw in Coming to him, and in iS(jo he liecame at- 
Itnding surgeon to the Alexian llrothers' Hos- 
])ital. A year later he was elected [jresident of the 
medical staff of the Cook County Hospital. In 
i^yo he also became professor of surgery in the 
Post-Graduate Medical School, and in 1892 pro- 
fessor of clinical surger_\- in the College of Physi- 
cians and Surgeons. 

As an author and writer Dr. Murphy is well 
known, and his numerous contributions to the 
medical press of the country ha\e gi\'en him an 
international reputation; as a scholar and student 
in his profession, most of his books and papers 
ha\-e to do with abdominal surgery and are con- 
sidered standard works. 

Dr. Murphy was vice-president of the Inter- 
national ]\Iedical Congress at Rome in 1894, and 
is a life member of the Surgical Society of Ger- 
n-.any and the Surgical Society of Paris. He is a 
mcmljcr of the International Congress for Gyne- 
cology and Obstetrics of Berne, of the American 
Medical Association and of the International As- 
sociation of Railway Surgeons, of which he was 
chosen president in 1895. At the furty- fourth 
annual meeting of the American Medical Associ- 
ation, in 1893, Dr. Murphy gave a paper on the 
"Surgery of the Gall Tract," in which he illus- 
trated the utility oi liis anastomosis button. This 
article attracted great attention, and the button, 
(,'f which he is the in\'entor, as a means of in- 
testinal approximation has been adopted bv the 
profession all over the world. Other papers and 
articles from his pen that have attracted consid- 
erable attention are numerous, and among them 
mav be mentioned: '■I''arl\- (^pcr.ations in .\p- 



pendicitis," of which he is considered the fore- 
most ex])onent : "Intestinal Approximations," 
with especial reference to the use of the anas- 
tomosis button; "Surgery of the Gasserian Gang- 
lion ;" "Original Research in the Suture of Arter- 
ies and Veins," and "Actinomycosis" (Dr. Mur- 
]jhy was the first to recognize this disease in the 
human in .\merica. His surgical address be- 
f(jre the .\merican Medical Association in Den- 
ver, Colorado, in 1898, on the "Surgery i>f the 
Lung" w'as an epoch-making paper and showed 
his great versatility in surgery. Although still 
a young man. Dr. Murphy is already recognized 
as one of the masters of his art, with a national 
and international reputation. He is a striking 
representative of the material that has brought 
Chicago into prominence as a great center of 
medical ad\'ancenient and medical education. 

Dr. Murphy had the honor of receiving the 
Laetare medal from the University of Notre 
Dame, March 22, 1902. He was chosen not only 
for his success in surgery and medicine but in 
recognition as well for his worth as a man of 
generous and Christian heart. Yearly, for nine- 
teen years, the Laetare medal has been bestowed 
upon some great American by the university. 

Dr. Murphv is a member of various social or- 
ganizations, the Washington Park Club, Chicago 
Athletic and Union League Clubs ; a man of schol- 
arly tastes, and one whose mind has been culti- 
vated by extensive reading and research carried 
into many fields of literature and science. His 
manner is modest and reser\'ed, yet ever most 
courteous and kindly. Those who are admitted 
to his friendship find him an entertaining, social 
man, quick to recognize commendable traits in 
others, and alwa_\'s worthy of the highest re- 
gard. 

Dr. Mur])hy was married November 25, 1885. 
to Miss Nettie Plamondon, of Chicago, who is a 
lady of brilliant intellectual endowments, great 
Ixauty and popularity. 



524 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



GEORGE W. WARVELLE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Tlie name oi George \\ . \\ arxclle, one of 

the most prominent jurists of CliicagO' and one of 

. tlie Ijest-known Masons in the state of IlHnois. is 

known throughout the city with whicli he lias 

been identified for nian_\- years. 

^Ir. Warvelle is a nati\-e of Kennslia, W'ls- 
crinsin, where lie was liorn Mav 3, 1852, of En- 
ghsh and Irish ancestry. He acquired an aca- 
demic education in tiie schools of liis native city, 
and at tlie age of nineteen rears entered the law 
ofifice i:f the late Hon. O. S. I lead, of Kenosha, 
and commenced the stud\' of law. lie spent the 
ne.xt seven years in preparatory study at his home 
r.nd in Chicago, and in 1S76 was admitted to 
practice by the courts of Wisconsin. Since that 
dale he has devoted his time and energies to his 
profession and has succeeded in Iniildiug uj) a 
large and remunerative practice. 

In i(S8i, realizing that his abilities demanded 
a larger field of work, he mo\'e<l to the city ot 
Chicago, where he has since resided While en- 
gaging in general jiractice, he has given special 
attention to the law of real estate and has ap- 
peared as coun.sel in many celebrated real estate 
cases. At the outset of his professional career he 
resohed ne\er to accept a criminal retainer, and 
this rule has ne\er been departed from. 

T)evcl(.ping in early life a high degree of liter- 
ary taste and ability, he has naturally taken much 
pleasure in giving these faculties considerable 
sccijie. .\mong his pul)lishe(l works may be men- 
tioned a treatise on "Abstracts tif Title,"' which 
h;id a large sale, and has passed to a second edi- 
tion ; a treatise on the law of "\^endor and Pur- 
chaser," and later an elementary work for the 
use of students on "The Principles if Real Prop- 
erty." The last mentioned work has heen re- 
ceived with special fa\'(.)r bv legal educators and 



is r,ow used as a text-l>ook in many of the leading 
law schools of the country. 

Mr. Warvelle has also l>een connected as con- 
tributor and otherwise with the staff of several of 
the leading law journals. He has also written a 
number of historical and legal monographs, and 
for many years has enjoyed the distinction of 
being an authority upon Masonic archeology and 
cognate subjects. In recognition of his ability 
in the line of authorship, he has received from St. 
Ignatius College and several other collegiate in- 
stitutions the honorary tlegree of LL. D. In 
1896 he received the ai>prointment of dean of the 
Chicago Law SchcKiI, a ixjsition which he still 
holds. He is a member of several learned soci- 
eties, including the American and Illinois State 
Bar Associations. 

In 1877 Mr. Warvelle was married to Miss 
Lydia Bangs, of Kenosha, Wiiscon.sin, and they 
have five children. 

In respect to the fraternity orders, there are 
many interesting details that might l)e related, 
but only the main outline is given here. Mr. 
Warvelle was initiated intO' the mysteries of Ma- 
sonry in Covenant Lodge, Xo. 526, in Chicago, 
in February, 1875, and since then by successive 
graduation has advanced through all the bodies 
of the York and Scottish rites, rounding out his 
Masonic career in 188S, when he was crowned 
with the thirty-third degree by the Supreme 
Counsel, A. A. S. R., for the n<irthern jurisdic- 
tion. He has been honored with many official 
stations bv the craft, being elected the presiding 
officer in all of the bodies of both the York and 
Scottish rites, as well as in a numher of the grand 
Ixidies of the state. He has acipiired an extended 
reputation as a writer on Masonic history and 
jurisprudence, having made a numlier of \aluable 




"^^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



527 



cniUrilinliiins in the .Masonic ])rt'ss on lliesc sub- 
jects whicli arc (Ieser\'e(ll\' held in liii^'li esteem. 
He lias one of tlie largest and finest ])rivate li- 
braries in the cit\- in all departments of literature, 
and in addition has made a collection of Ma- 
sonic works which is lars^er and more \-alual)le 
tlian any other in this or any of the adjoininf^ 
states with but one exception. This latter 
library, comprising upward of five thousand 
titles, is under the control and auspices of the 
Oriental Consistory. 

Air. W'arvelle is also active in charitalile work 
of the fraternitv; was one (if the founders ruul for 
the past fifteen }"ears a trustee of the Illinois Ma- 
sonic Orphans" Home, and is president of the 
Illinivis Masonic Home for the .Veetl. He has 



further been identified with the .social oruaniza- 
tions of the city, and w as for several years presi- 
dent of the .\cadia Club, and is a member of the 
Illinois Club. He has thoroug-hly e.schewed poli- 
tics and refused all offers of political prefer- 
ment; but he is a fluent and ea.sy speaker, thor- 
oughly posted on whatever he undertakes to treat 
in puljlic, and consequently his services as an 
orator and after-dinner speaker are constantlv in 
demand. His brilliant gifts in this line and deep 
thought never fail to hoW the close attention of 
his auditors no matter what the .subject may be 
u])on which be is addressing them. His argu- 
n^ents before the courts are lucid, logical and 
marked by an aptness of illustration that carries 
all the elements of conviction. 



CHARLES SAMUEL DENEEN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Charles .S. I )eneen. state's attorney for Cook education was continued under the personal 

county, lllin.ois, was born Mav 4, i8f>.^. at Ed- sui)er\ision of 'his father. Following his gradu- 

wardsville, Aladison county, Illinois. His father, ation in 1882 from this institution, he taught 

Sanniel IT. Deneen, Ph. 1)., was professor of school in Ja.sper and Madison counties for three 

Latin and history at McKendree College, Leba- years, and at the end of that period came to Chi- 

non, Illinois, for thirt\- \'ears, and cag(» and entered the office of Master in Chancery 

his mother, Mar\- V. ( .\sliley ) Waller, as clerk. Mr. 1 )eneen has been a mem- 

I )eneen, was a graduate of a well- L-er of several law firms. His first partner was 

known woman's college at Cin- II. Waldo Dikeman, known as Dikeman & De- 

cinnati. Mr. Deneen's paternal r.een. Later he was a member of Deneen & Mc- 

grandfather, Ke\'. \\ illiam L. Fwen, of Blanke, Chytraus & Deneen, of Cli_\'- 

Deneen, was a pioneer Methodist trans & Deneen and of Deneen il- Hamill. While 

]ireaclier in the early days of Illi- he was a member of the firm of Blanke, Chytraus 

niiis, and his great-grandfather, & Deneen both Messrs. Blanke and Chytraus 

Kisdon Moore, a resident of die were called to the bench of the superior conrt. 

state as early as iSij, was a nianber of the first Jr. 189J Mr. Deneen was elected a member of the 

territorial legislature of Illinois, and also of the Illinois legislature from the old second senatorial 

first, third and fourth state legislatures. Mr. district. He .served one term. In December, 

Deneen was a student in the public schools of 1895 he was appointed attorney for the sanitar}' 

Lebanon and at McKendree College, where his district. Later he was elected state's attorne}', 




528 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



and has won a high i)hicc in i)ii[)nlai" eslinia- factory. Mr. Dencen was nnited in marriage 

tion l>y his energetic and fearless conduct of this ]\Iay lo. 1891, at Princeton, Illinois, to Miss 

office. An unusually large numl)er of prosecu- Bina Day ]\laliincy, of Mount Carr. 11, Illinois. 

tions have fallen to his lot_, and his vigorous con- They have three children: .Vshley, Dorothy arid 

duct of them has heen in the highest degree satis- Francis. 



DAVID SPENCER WEGG 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Da\-id S. \\'egg, chairman df the Railroad 
Sui)|)ly L'umpany of Chicago, and formerly cnun- 
sel for the Northern Pacific Railroad Companv, 
\\^isconsin Central Division, and president of the 
Chicago & Nortliem Pacific Railroad Company, 
is accorded a distinguished place among the rep- 
resentative American legists and husiness men of 
the United States. No mure capahlc man could 
possil)ly have been found for the many high and 
responsible positions he has filled. He has that 
cast of mind, an indispensable attribute of the suc- 
cessful lawyer and business man, which enables 
him to recognize beneath the exterior or surface 
formation the structural elements and to deter- 
mine the inflexible laws which underlie all things. 
His career has been remarkably successful, and 
has been achies^ed by untiring (le\-oti(^n, ]^rofound 
knowledge and a rare faculty for seizing oppor- 
tunities. 

Mr. Wegg is a native of Ontario, Canada, and 
was born in the village of St. Thomas, December 
16 1847. His parents, John W. and Jerusha 
(Dunconibe) Wegg, were of English lineage. 
His mother'.s familv, "the Duncombes," traces 
its descent from Sir Charles Duncombe (Lord 
Feversham), who came to America in 1730. His 
father was born in Norfolk, England. His an- 
cestors were mainly engaged in mechanical pur- 
suits, although among them were an admiral of 
the English navy and a representative of the 
crown on the island of Trinidad. 

Mr. Wegg, as a }-outh, took e\"ery opportiniity 



to obtain an cdncatinn. and when strong enough 
he worked in his father's carriage shop and ac- 
quired proficiency at the trade. By hard study 
before and after hours of labor he qualitied him- 
self for teaching, and, while fulfilling his duties 
as a teacher in the schcxjls of St. Thomas, he be- 
gan the study of law. At the age of twenty-five 
years he went tO' Madison, \\'isconsin, where his 
uncle. Chief Justice Lyon, resided, and availing 
himself of the kind offer of this relative to make 
his house his home, he entered the law school of 
the University of Wisconsin and was graduated 
w ilh the class of 1873. He was immediately em- 
ployed by the law finn of Fish & Lee, of Racine, 
and soon became a partner. In 1875 he accepted 
an offer of partnership from ex-Chief Justice 
Dixon, of Milwaukee, and the firm of Dixon, 
Hooker, Wegg & No)-es will always be remem- 
bered as one of the most Ijrilliant law firms of the 
northwest. 

When the association was dissolved on ac- 
count of the ill health of Judge Dixon, Mr. Wegg 
entered the firm of Jenkins, Elliot & Winkler, 
which was largely employed in railroad interests, 
and made the law of corporations a .specialty. 
From this agreeable and lucrative partnership 
Mr. Wegg was called to the position of assistant 
general solicitor of the Chicago, Milwaukee & 
St. Paul Railroad Company, and in 1885 he took 
charge of the law department of the \\'isconsin 
Central Railroad Company, a position which 
iiccessitated his removal to Chicago, where he 




iiansvdiioh't iCftgo 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



531 



lias since resided. Here without reliiu|uisliing 
tiic legal duties wliicli tlie de])artnient required, 
there was added a vast financial and managerial 
responsihility. It hecanie necessary, in order for 
the Wisconsin Central toi obtain a terminal in 
Chicago, tO' organize a new corporation, the Chi- 
cago Northern Tacihc Railroad Company; and 
of this road Mr. Wegg became president, and 
upon him rested, without the title of manager, the 
vast responsibility of its financial and construc- 
tive, as well as legal, management. He pur- 
chased the right of way, conducted condenmation 
proceedings, negotiated bonds, built a magnifi- 
cent depot and attended to the thousand details 
of the immense undertaking with tiie skill of a 
trained expert and the prudence and sagacity of 
a trained lawver. 

More recently when the Northern Pacific Rail- 
road Company acquired possession of the Wis- 
consin Central, Mr. W'egg was elected a director 
of that great continental corporatirm, a position 
which he has recently voluntarily relinquished. 
Eloquent advocates and learned lawyers have 
been produced in ever)- coimtry where the com- 
mon law has prevailed. In America, they have 
not unfrequently shown qualities of the highest 
statesmanship when called into councils of state. 

As a lawyer ^Ir. Wegg seems to liave assim- 



ilated the principles of law and to be able to sup- 
pl\-, from his judicial mind, a correct solution to 
any new combination of details that will stand the 
test of se\'erest criticism. In the earlier years of 
bis practice be excelled, in bis skill in the presen- 
tation of cases tO' juries, while Ijcfore the court his 
master)' of legal principles, familiarity w ith prece- 
dents, and poAver of logical and forcible argu- 
ment, made him almost inxincible. He has o'ften 
been a trustee for large estates and has held num- 
erous positions of trust and confidence with cor- 
p<;ratit)ns other than those mentionecl. As coun- 
sel, bis services have been in great demand, and 
he has Ijeen extensively retained in important and 
complicated litigations in New York and other 
eastern cities. 

Outside of professional studies Mr. Wegg is 
well informed, and, in some lines of literature 
and science, an adept. He is a free and interest- 
ing conversationalist, an agreeable comrade, and 
a most fascinating companir)n. He is a member 
of the Literary and Union League Clubs of Chi- 
cago; the Milwaukee Club, of Milwaukee; and 
the Manhattan Club, of New York. 

He was married in 1878 to Miss Eva Russell, 
daughter of Mr. Andrew Russell, of Oconomo- 
woc, Wisconsin. They have two sons, Donald 
Russell Wegg and David Spencer Wegg, Jr. 



HON. LORIN C. COLLINS 

CHICAGO. ILL. 



'J^'acing his ancestry back as far as the May- 
fiower. Judge Lorin C. Collins jjossesses all tb(ise 
characteristics which made that little liand of de- 
tennincd men and women cross the ocean and 
brave the terrors of an unknown and almost 
unexpbjred region. Gifted with ability of a 
superior order and with a positive: purpose in 
life. Judge Collins is now recognized as one of 
the foremost legal lights of this country. He is a 



native of Windsor. Connecticut, born in .\ugust. 
18-18, and the sou of Lorin C. Collins and Mary 
(Bemis) Collins. The parents were also of Amer- 
ican descent and for many years the father was 
a [irominent and influential minister of the gos- 
pel, es])ousing the faith of the Methodist Episco- 
])al church, with which be remained in harmony 
until a disbelief in the ([uestion of eternal punish- 
ment on bis part led him to withdraw. This was 



532 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



v\liilc he was a luadini;' iiiemher uf the ]\Iinncsota 
cunference, and tlie iii(le])en(lencc and self-reli- 
ance then manifested in the character cjf the father 
\\as in a strikini^' des^ree transmitted to the son, 
who is disposed t<i reach independent conclusions 
by independent investigation and to reinforce his 
convictions hy the api)rnpriate conduct regardless 
of what the results to himself may Ije. In the 
year 185 J the ])arents moved to St. Paul and 
would doubtless have traveled still further west 
had that city not then been considered the end 
of the world, in that direction. 

When tweiUy years old Judge Collins came 
to Chicago; attended Xortlnvestern University at 
Evanston, from which he graduated in 1872, and, 
having ])revinusly had a tliomugh preparatory 
training in the Ohin Wcsle\an L'niversity. he 
entered the law office (if the then intluential firm 
of Clarkson & Van Schaack, nf Chicago, witli 
which he remained until admitted to the bar in 
1874. Directly afterward he liecame a pmmi- 
nent figure in the public mind and ranked among 
the foremost as an efifective organizer, a dee]) 
thinker and an eliKpicnt advocate. Politics 
claimed a fair share of his attention, and Juflge 
Collins speedily achieved distinction as a legis- 



lator. He was fn-st elected to the legislature in 
1878. and re-elected twice in succession. His re- 
markable command of language, ])o\\er of dis- 
crimination and prompt decision has won him an 
enviable p<)siti(jn in the legal fraternity and has 
made him a coadjutor to be desired and an an- 
tagonist to be feared. 

In 1883 he was chosen speaker of the Illinois 
house of representatives, being but thirty-five 
years of age. He discharged the e.xacting duties 
of that position in an able manner. In 1884 be 
was made judge of the circuit court of Cook 
count\' bv appointment, and so well did he dis- 
charge the duties of the position that upon 
the e.xpiration of the unexpired term he was 
elected for an<ither teruK and then re-elected. 
His ])ublic life has been characterized by the 
same sterling qualities of mind and heart that 
give time to his [jrivate life. 

In 1873 he was married to Miss Xellie Robb. 
The}' have three children. 

Judge Collins is a member of the ^lasonic 
fraternity, and has ad\anced to the degree of 
Knights Templar. He is also a member of the 
Chicago Club, the Hamilton, Washington Park, 
.\merican Yacht Clubs and Chicagoi Golf Club. 



DR. V. C. PRICE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Vincent C. Price, fi.Tmerly president of the 
Lincoln Xational Hank, and iircsidcnt of the Price 
Maxoring E.xtract Company and also the Pan- 
Confection Company, is a man whose sterling 
iionesty and integrity have won him the respect 
v_>f the highest and humblest in his bmne city of 
Chicago and throughont the I'nited States. 

Dr. Price was born at Troy, Xew York, De- 
cember II. 183J, and acrpiired his preliminary 
education in the public schools of that city, and 
was graduated from college in 1852. He soon 



after this commenced the study of medicine, and 
received the degree i.if M. D. in 1830. In 18O1 
he moved to Illinois, .settling at Waukegan, where 
be engaged in the practice of his profession with 
marked success. 

Dr. Price will always be remembered as the 
]iionecr in the manufacture of i>ure cream of 
tartar baking powder, ^\'hile a student he en- 
joyed unusual advantages in the study of chem- 
istry, and the chanical laboratory of his college 
was the place above all others where he was most 




^"l h Unary Taylor Jf Chtago 




^ 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



533 



iit'lcn In l)c fduiid. Here. ;mii<l ihe surrouiuliiii^s 
tliat were so congenial to liini, lie made his first 
experiments for the discovery of a chemical com- 
bination for baking powder that slmuld be at 
once liealthful and adai>ted to universal use. 
Long research and experiment were rewarded by 
the discovery of the ingredients which nict those 
requirements. 

In 1865 he gave up his jiractice of medicine, 
formed a partnership for the manufacture of 
baking powder and successfully launched the plan 
he had in mind for so many years. The growth 
of tlie business was rapid, and Dr. Price's baking 
powder soon Iiecame kmiwn thrciughout the cmni- 
try. At the commencement of the Inisiuess the 
sales were frecpiently by ounces, while tons are 
now the unit of measurement uf the daih manu- 
facture. 

Dr. Price pm-chased his i>artner's interest in 
i(SS4 and formed an incorporated compan_\' under 



the name of the Price JJaking Powder Compau)', 
w hich has since carried on the business. In 1893, 
dihposing of his interest in this companw Dr. 
I'rice fiirmed the Price Flo\-oring E.xtract Com- 
p;iny, fnr the manufacture of fla\-oring extracts. 
He was one nf the hiunders of the Lincoln Na- 
tional Dank and was its presitlent for eleven 
years, from its organizatiim until transferred to 
the Bankers" National Bank of Chicago. 

Dr. Price was married in 1856 to Miss Har- 
riet ]•:. W'liite. daughter of Dr. White, of Buffalo, 
Xcw \'ork. They ha\-e four children. 

.\s is knnwn to all. the career of Dr. Price has 
been eminenth' successful. It h;is been acliiexed 
b\- sing'lcness of purpose and rare business 
sag.acitv. He is ;i man (if bmad humanitarian 
])rinci])les. decj) thought and strong intellectn- 
alilv. In all the relatinns of life he commands 
the respect and esteem which is e\er rendereil 
true wnrth. 



WILLIAM MEADE FLETCHER 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



William M. Idetcher, member of the law brm 
of Collins & hdetcher, was burn at Rappahan- 
rmck, N'irginia, and is a son of James \V. :nid 
C. M. (Jkleade) Fletcher. He ])ursued his lit- 
erary education at the Episcopal high sciiool near 
.\lexandria, and the University 
^ _^ -i of \'irginia, at which latter in- 
^^^^^^ stitution he completed the ]ire- 

^^^^^^r ^^' scribed law cnursc, recei\iug the 
^^H^^ "^^ degree of Bachelor of Law . .\fler 
^^■fl^&yMF his graduation and admissinn to 
J^^^^^^f^ ll'^-' ''^'' 'ic entered uixiu the ])rac- 
^^^^^. Ab ^'^"^' "^ ''^^^ '" Montana, where he 

^^^^** l>ecame attorne_\- for some of the 

largest banking, mining, corpor- 
ate and Inisiness interests in Afontana. 
After sjiending five years in the west and 



meeting with much success in his profession, he 
determined to seek a broader field for his efforts, 
;u!d in 1S95 located in Chicago, where he has 
w.on distinction as an able member of the Illi- 
nois bar. ScMJu after coming to Chicago he be- 
came a member of the firm of Collins, Go<i'drich, 
Harrow & Vincent, and was connected therewith 
until the dissolution of that firm in Xovember. 
iN'i;5. when he formed a cif-])artnersliip with its 
senior member, ex-Judge Lorin C. Collins, un- 
der the firm name of Collins &• Fletcher, which 
co-pai'lnership still exists. Its i:ffices being in the 
fourteenth tlixir o^f the Title & Trust Company 
building'. This firm, which is one of the leading 
l;iw firms in Chicago, is engaged in general prac- 
tice, and has a large and extensive practice in 
the varied branches of the law. 



534 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Mr. Fletcher was married in iKtjA tiv Miss sition and accepted a pusitimi as a pnifessor 

Flnrence Lea. of I'liiladelphia, a dau^iiter of J. (f law in the Northwestern University Law 

Tatnall Lea. of that city. Froni 1899 to. 1902 School. 

lie was a ])rofessor of equity jurisprudence. Mr. Fletcher is a member of the Illinois Liar 

pleading and practice in the John ^larshall Law Association. Chicago Bar Association and the 

School of Chicago. In kjoj he resigned this pu- Chicago and Germania Clubs. 



WILLIAM HAUSER GRAY 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



William II. Gray, general manager of the 
Knights Templars and ]\Iasons Life Indemnity 
Company, with offices in Masonic Temple, Chi- 
cago, holds an enviable position in life insurance 
circles throughout the west. 

He is a nati\'e of Ohio, having been born at 
Pic|ua, of that state. September 23, 1847, and is 
a son of Jacob C. and Catherine (Hauser) 
Gray. His father was a native of Ohio and a 
Ijromincnt contractor and builder. A resident of 
the same citv for over sixty years, he stood high 
in his community. "Deacon Gray," as he was 
called, was a deacon in the Baptist church 
fi r over fifty years, and was prominently known 
all over Ohio. He was an acti\-e believer and 
worker for any e>bject that tended toward the 
advancement of education, though the advan- 
tages he had personally in his early life were 
few, he gave all of his children a liberal educa- 
tion. He died, aged seventy-nine, in the vear 
1881. The mother was a daughter of the late 
Jacob Hauser, of Dayton, Ohio'. She was 
always identified with and an acti\-e worker of 
the Baptist church, and reared a family of 
six children, twn boys and four daughters. ~\lv. 
J. II. Gray, of Cincinnati, being the other son. 
Mr. W. H. Gray received his early education in 
and graduated from the Piqua high school and 
then entered the Denison L^niversity, where he 
graduated three years later. He assisted his 
father in the building ojDerations then on hand 



for a time and later entered the employ of the 
Lake Erie eS: Western Railroad Company as a 
civil engineer. L^pini the failure of this company 
he entered the lumljer business until after the 
Chicago fire in 1871, v. hen he solel out and be- 
came Connected with a life insurance company, 
and had quarters at Indianapolis, Indiana. Sub- 
sequently he was transferred tO' Ohio, and in 
1877 he organized the Knights Templar and Ma- 
sons Mutual Aid Association of Cincinnati, Ohio, 
which under bis management became the leading 
company at that time in the United States. 

In 1883 he severed his connection with this 
company, leaving it in splendid financial condi- 
ti( n, and si:)ent a year engaged in private busi- 
ness, and then came to- Chicago, and ^lay 4, 
1884, he organized the Knights Templar and 
iMasons Life Indemnity Company of Chicago, 
Illinois, and with this company, as director and 
general manager, be has been identified e\'er 
since. The success this companv has met from 
the first up to' the present time is truly phenome- 
nal. To-day it stands giiarantee for upward of 
thirty million dollars of insurance, a result mainly 
attrilnitable to the management and great admin- 
istrati\e ability of Mr. Gray. 

Mr. Gray has been active with others in the 
development of the Indiana natural gas fields, 
arid owns interests there. He owns o\-er six 
thousand acres of land in Texas. se\-en hundred 
acres in Indiana, iMie thousand acres in Illinois 







^^^^-7^^^^ 



?^ 



PROMINENT MEN OE THE GREAT WEST. 



537 



and several line Iniuses in Chicay-n. He eun- 
ceived llie i>lan and was tlie cri^-inatur of the 
company whicli removed tlie old Lihhy Prison, of 
Richnuuid, Virginia, to Chicago. For a time he 
was its treasurer, being, in fact, its sole (jwner 
until (hsijosed of to a syndicate, who owned it 
for years and had it situated in Chicago on Wa- 
bash avenue on what is now the site of the pres- 
ent Coliseum. 

He is a \alued member of \-arious social or- 
ganizations, incluchng tlie Union League and 
]\Lir(juette Chibs, and is also a member of St. 
Bernard Commianfler\- ( K. T.) and (jthcr [Ma- 
sonic bodies. A man of scholarly tastes and one 
whose mind has been cultivated l.iy extensive 
reading- and research, carried into many fields of 
literature. 



Mr. Cray has tra\elcd extensivelv and de- 
lights to spend his summers on the coast of 
Maine or at his line country home near Indi- 
anapolis, which is his chance of securing a much- 
needed rest for a short time each year. 

INIr. (iray is a Baptist in religion and a Re- 
publican in ]jolitics. Ide was married February 
17, 1 881, to Miss Opha E. Buckingham, a gradu7 
ate of Mt. Carrt>ll (Illinois) Seminary. The 
union has been blessed with three children, named 
Ira B., William B. and I'^alpli B. Gray. Mr. 
Gray has been very active in tiie management of 
the now renowned Knights Tem])lar charity 
balls, which have become events of the season, 
and has served as chairman of the inyitati->n 
committee of the sixth and seventh and chair- 
man of the general committee of the eighth ball. 



MAJOR LAWRENCE M. ENNIS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

]\Iajor Lawrence 'SI. Ennis, one L^f the pop- Walker. This firm e.xisted four years, until in 

ular attorneys at the Chicago' bar, is a man of 1884, when ]\Ir. Walker went into the state's at- 

great n.atural ability, a graceful and elociuent torney's office. In March, two years later. Mr. 

orator of as]}iring ambition and of restless en- Emiis formed a partnership with Hon. William 

erg)-; brave, resolute and fearless, as his whole E. Mason, now United States senator from llli- 

life's career has evinced. nois, under the firmi name of Masou & Ennis, 

]\Ir. Ennis w-as born in Chi- which continued until 1895, when the partner- 

cagO', November 3, 1859, ''"^ is ship was dissolved on Mr. Mason's election to 

a son of James Ennis, a native the United State's senate; and Mr. Ennis formed 

of County Wexford, Ireland, and a new firm with Mr. John J. Coburn, under the 

^lary A. (Saxton) Ennis, a na- firm name of Ennis & Coburn, which contimied 

ii\-e of Chicago. Lawrence ^M., until ]Major Ennis accompanied his regiment, the 

F^nnis w-as educated in the public Seventh Illinois Infantry, to the Spanish war, 

schools and St. Patrick's Acad- he being in command of the famous Second Bat- 

emy of Chicago, under the Chris- talion of that regiment. The regiment served 

He graduated from the North Di- in the Second Brigade, Second Division, Second 

N-ision higli school, Ijcing class orator in 1877. Army Corps, thniughout the war. 

He read law in his father's office and was ad- Major Ennis began his niiilitarv career by 

niitted to the bar in 1880. Upon the death of enlisting in Company F. First Infantry, I. N. 

his father he formed a jiartnership w-ith Francis G., as a private in 1881, and served a three years' 

W. Walker, under the firm name of Ennis &' term. Soon after his discharge he joined the 




lian Brothers. 



535 



PRO^IIXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST. 



\'eteran Corps, of wliicli he has Ijeen an active 
member ever since. When the First Infantry 
visited Charleston, Atlanta and other southern 
cities in 1895, it was accompanied by the Veteran 
Corps, and Major Ennis was made special 
guardian of the "Flag of Friendship," t\'i)ifving 
the reunion of the Xorth and South. December 
5, 1896, he was elected Major of the Seventh 
Illinois Infantry, and served witii the regiment 
through the times of peace and during the Span- 
ish war, Ijeing commissioned major of the Se\-- 
enth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in Alay, 1898. 
At the close of the year 1900, ]\Iajor Ennis re- 
signed from; the service, but when the service 
men of the Spanish war organized, he was made 
Cdunnander of Bucky 0"Xeill Camp. He is also 
a companion of the Illinois Commanderw Xaval 
and Militar\' Order of the S])anisli-.\merican 
Wlar. 



April 2. 1902, ]\Iajor Ennis was elected 
commander of the department of Illinois uf the 
service men of the Spanish war at the first na- 
tional convention held in Spnngfield. Just pre- 
vious to this, on Alarch 10, 1902, he was elected 
president of the \'eterate Corps of the First In- 
fantry, I. X'. G. Politically ]Major Ennis is a 
Democrat and acti\-e in party affairs. He has 
always manifested an interest in educational mat- 
ters, and presented for many years a gold medal 
for the best English essay to the graduating class 
of the Xorth Division high school. It is known 
as the Ennis Essay Medal. 

On October 2, 1884, Mr. Ennis was married 
to Elizabeth Gertrude Ouinlan, of \^'oodstock,■ 
Illinois. Thev have four children, ]\Iarv, (jer- 
trude, Lawrence and James. Mr. Ennis is a 
(lex'out Roman Catholic, following the faith of 
liis fathers. 



EDWARD CHARLES DARLEY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Edward C. Darley, the late eminent ci\'il en- 
gineer, was born at Tarrytown, New Ydrk, Janu- 
ary 28, 1846, and was a .son of William George 
Darley and Mary Esther (Weeks) Darley. 

Fie was educated in the schools of \\'arren, 
Ohio, and at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Before his 
twentieth year he was employed, as civil engineer 
of the X'ew Castle & Beaver Valley Railroad, at 
New Castle, Pennsyh-ania. In 1866 he went to 
Brazil, Indiana, to build a blast furnace, and in 
1867 toi St. Louis, Missouri, where he followed 
his profession as a mechanical engineer, build- 
ing blast furnaces until 1887, when he was called 
to Ashland, Wisconsin, to build a large blast fur- 
nace there, which todk some time, and when fin- 
ished he, in 188X, went to Portland, Oregon, and 
built a large blast furnace there. In 1889 he re- 
tiuMied to Pittsburg, Penns^ivania, and was em- 



ployed with. J. P. \\'itherow as general superin- 
tendent of blast furnace construction until 1892, 
Then he practiced mechanical engineering until 
1897, when he came to Chicago', Illinois, as gen- 
eral western agent for the .Vultman & Taylor [Ma- 
chinery Company, Mansfield, Ohio, and the 
"Cahall" water tube boilers. 

1\1\-. Darley enlisted in the One Hundredth 
Pennsylvania X'olunteers, February 27, 1864, 
strving his country until the close of the war in 
1865, and receiving an honorable discharge. 

He was a memiber of several societies and 
clubs, among them the American Society of Me- 
chanical Engineers, of which he was one of the 
charter members, and of the Institute of IMining 
Engineers. He was a Mason, having joined 
that order in 1867, a Republican and a memb.T 
of the Episcopal church. 




■-^ . -er , . ,_^i."l,- Zh tifjo- 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WESi 



541 



Mr. L)arley"s life was one of untiring activity, 
antl was erowned with a high degree of success. 
] le l)tn'lt no less than forty-fovu' l)last furnaces, 
steel plants and ro'lling mills in different parts 
of the United States. He was a man of pleasing 
nersonalitv. genial manner and true courtesy. 



cago, Illinois. J lis death was very sudden and 
due to the administration of chloroform to per- 
form a slight oiveration on his throat. He left 
a widow, Miary Elenora ( W'.atson ) Darley, to 
whom he was married January u. tUChj. She 
is a daughter of William Watson, l)anker of 



I lis m;un- adniirahle qualities of mind and heart Xew Castle, PennsyKrmia. and one son. William 
endeared him greatly to his many friends. W. Darley, was horn .Septeniher 2_', 1S70, at i\ew 

Mr. i)arle\- died Fehruary if), Kjoi, at Chi- Castle, Pennsyhania. 



HON. OLIVER H. HORTON, LL. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




Hon. Oliver H. H(jrton, LL. D., was born 
in Cattaraugus crnmty, New York, October 20, 
i(S35, the son of Henry \V. and Mary H. Hor- 
ton. He came to Chicago at the age of twent}' 
and fo'und employment in the lumber business. 
It was not until five years later, 
at an age w hen the young man of 
to-day considers himself unfor- 
tunate if lie is not fairly well 
established in business, tbat 
young Horton entered the law 
office of Hoyne, Miller & Lewis, 
and ser\-ed in the several capaci- 
ties of office attendant, student 
and clerk. He also took a regu- 
lar course in the o^ld Chicago University, from 
which he was graduated with the class of 1863. 
His diligent study, howe\er, had enabled him to 
pass the examination for admittance to the bar 
some little lime previous to this, and when, in 
the early part oif iiSri.;, the firm of Hoyne, Mjller 
& Lewis was dissoKed, a new partner.ship' was 
formed by the late Ibni. Thomas HoyMie. lienja- 
min F. Ayer and .Mr. Ilorton. in which Mr. llor- 
ton's name a])peared as junior memlier. Mr. 
Ayer withdrew the following year and the firm 
of Hoyne & Horton was organized, the name 
being changed again in 1867 to that of Hoyne, 



Horton & Hoyne, and thus it remained until the 
death of Mr. Hoyne, the senior partner, in 1883. 
From then imtil 1887, when Mr. Llorton went 
on the bench, it was known as Horton & Hoyne. 

Judge Horton received his first judicial nomi- 
nation to the Cook county circuit court in 1887 
by a vote of the members of the bar, at which 
ninety per cent, of the ballots were in his favor. 
-Mthotigh a Republican in his affiliations, he was 
a candidate on the non-partisan ticket in the elec- 
tion whicli followed. In the twice that he has 
since been nominated, however, his name has ap- 
peared on both Republican and Democratic tick- 
ets, a fact which shows the esteem in which he is 
held the bar and tlie public generalK', and in 
March, i8(;8, he was selected as a judge of the 
appellate court of the first district, a legal honor 
of considerable magnitude, and which further in- 
dicates the respect with which he is regarded by 
tlie bench. 

Judge Horton is not a politician and has hehl 
but one public office, and in that instance, as he 
has been heard to say, "only because there was 
n(_> hel]) for it." This was the position of cor- 
poration coimsel, to which Mayor Roach nomi- 
nated him without his knowledge and while he 
was absent from the city. Xotw ithstanding that 
he withdrew his name as soon as he heard ot it. 



542 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



tlic nomination was confirniecl l)y unanimous member of the Afethodist Episcopal chuixli, liav- 
Mle iif the common council, and, under these ir.g held ever}^ official position therein to which 
circumstances, he finally decided to accept. It a layman is eligilile. In 1880 he was sent as a 



was only a matter of some two months, however, 
after this that he was released from these duties, 
which came to him sO' unsolicited, by h's election 
to' the bench. 

In social and jvrofessional circles Judge Hor- 
ton has taken a prominent place. He has been 
a member of the L'nion League Club since its 
organizatioii, and is identified with the Chicago 



delegate to the (piadrennial general conference 
of that denominatinn. which met in Cincinnati, 
and in the year following was elected a lay dele- 
gf.te to the ecumenical conference which met in 
London. He is president of the Rock River 
Methodist l^piscopal Lawman's Association, 
which originated the resolutions making equal 
lay representation in the Methodist Episco- 
Literary Club, the Martpiette Club, the Hamilton pal general conference, and was the active 
Club, the Forty Clul), the Chicago Athletic Club, head and leader in that movement and remained 
tlie Veteran Union League and the Glen View such until success was attained. He was again 
Club. He is a member of the Bar Association; elected lav delegate to the general conference 
was for years an active member of the Law In- and was a meml)er of that body which convened 
stitute; served several terms as its treasurer and in Chicago in Mav, 1900, and hv which lav rep- 
afterward as president. He has served as presi- resentation in equal numbers with the clergy was 
(knt of the Union College of Law and of its accepted and liiially accomplished. He has been 

a member and a trustee of the Grace, and after- 
ward Trinitv Methodist Episcopal church for 
many years. 

Judge Horton"s wife was Miss Frances B. 
Gould, a (l;iughter of T^hilip H. Goiild, one of 
\crsit_\-. He is ]>resident of the board of trustees Chicago's pioneer residents. They have had two 
of the riarrett Biblical Institute, mid a devoted cliildren, neilhcr of win mi arc now living. 



.\lumiii Association; was a charter member and 
nas president of the Medico-Legal Society; is 
now one of the fne trustees oif the Lewis Insti- 
tute, and has been for nian\- vears a trustee and 
was first xnce-iiresident of the Xorthwestern Uni- 



J. CHARLES STAMM, M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

1'liere are none of the younger class of prac- from the University of Munich on March 24, 
titioners in the city wluv have a larger practice 1866, recei\ing extraordinarv honors, 
than that enjoyed by Dr. Stamm. In fact niglit The Son of Andreas and Helena ( b'eile) 

and dav his office and residence are so^ besieged Stamm, J. Charles Stamm is a nati\'e of Cliica- 
by patients that he is not allowed the time for go, where he was born on the 2d of February, 
necessary rest, tO' say .nothing of recreation. 1868. Being a Roman Catholic and in accord 

Dr. Stamm's a1>ilities as practitioner are per- with his religious l^elief, he was educated at St. 
haps inherited in part from his father. Dr. An- Ignatius College, taking a classical course. Pre- 
vious, however, he had some e-xiiericnce in his 
father's drug store and naturally conceived a lik- 
ing for the medical profession. He had already 
made considerable progress in the study of phar- 



dreas Stamm. The latter was born at Bingen 
on the Rhine, studying medicine at the Univer- 
sities of Munich and Heidell^erg under Liebig. 
Niemeyer, and other masters. He graduated 




! o^i/i'<f.''S^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WESt 



S4$ 



niacy, so tliat on liis graduation fmni St. 
Ignatins College Dr. Stanini's fntnre ccmrse was 
clear. 

luitering Rush Medical College and faith- 
fully pursuing the full course, he graduated 
Fehruar)- 19, 1889. He promptly commenced 
practice, o|)ening an office in the same Iniilding 
occupied bv his father's drug store. A pleas- 
ing personality, professional skill and unusual 
energy and executive force won a position at a 
stroke which others have striven years to ac- 
quire, so that at the present time nn physician 
on the West Side has a larger pmfessional husi- 



ness or more iiromising professional career. The 
Doctor has not changed his office since he estalj- 
lished himself thirteen' years ago in his preseiit lo- 
cation, at No. 203 Rlue Island avenue. 

Dr. Stamm is a meml)er of the St. Ignatius 
Alumni Association and of the Chicago Medical 
Societv, being medical examiner for the I. O. O. 
F., C. O. F., K. O. T. M. and \V. C. O. F. Po- 
litically he is a Republican, and whether consid- 
ered as a man of affair.s or an able, successful 
and honored member of his profession, is looked 
uiiini as a man of strong character, who is des- 
tined [(> lie in the front ranks. 



JUDGE EDWARD H. THAYER 

CLINTON, IOWA 

Judge Edward H. Thayer, editor and oue of who at that time was able to report speeches 

the proprietors of the Clinton (^lowaj Morning verbatim. In the political campaign of 1852 he 

Age, was born at Windham, Maine, Novemlier reported speeches made by Stephen A. Douglas, 

27, 1832. His father, Ludo Thayer, was. born Lewis Cass, Horace Greele}^ Sam Houston and 

in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1796, and his other distinguished gentlemen. He reported the 

n-,other, whose maiden name was Rlioda Penni- speech of General Scott which was made in that 

man, was born at Windsor, Vermont, the same city, iii which occurred the noted phrases "sweet 

year. F(vr many years he atteuded the district German accent" and "rich Irish brogue." He ac- 

schools at Orono, state of Maine, graduating from companied the party that escorted General Scott 



the East Corinth Academy in 1850. That year he 
started for Portland, Oregon, although at that 
time Greeley had not given young men that ex- 
cellent advice "to buy a Hoe press and go west." 
At Albany he look passage on a canal boat for 
Buffalo, thence by lake boat to Cleveland, where 



to the Blue Lick Springs, reporting the speeches 
made on the route of that celebrated chieftain. 
He also' reported se\eral speeches made by Louis 
Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot. 

In the spring of 1853 ^^^- Thayer was ad- 
mitted to the bar, passing the very thorough ex- 



he was taken sick, preventing his continuing his amination at that time made imperative by law, 
journey. his certificate authorizing him to practice his pro- 
He remained in Cleveland three years, read- fession in all the courts of the state. In May of 
iiig law in the office of Bolton, Kelly & Griswold, that year he started further west, spending a week 
attending lectures of the Medical College and or two in Chicago. By railroad he went to Free- 
doing local work on the Herald and Plain Dealer, ijort, Illinois, thence by stage to Saxannah, and 
newsi>apers of that city. While in Cleveland the down the river by boat to Muscatine, Iowa, where 
subject of this sketch learned slmrthand writing, lie cimimenced the ])ractice of law. In 1854 he 
being one of the very few [persons in the country was elected county attorney on the Democratic 

26 



546 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



ticket. In 1856 he was elected cotnity judge of 
IMuscatine county, and re-elected in 1S58, both 
times as a Democrat. In 1858 he married Miss 
Delia E. Payne, of Westport, New York, who 
during their forty-three years of married Ufe has 
i)een his nmst \-ahial>le lielpmate. 'i'lie fruits of 
this marriage were three daughters, all now re- 
siding in Clinton. In i860 he was elected by the 
Democratic state convention as a delegate to the 
Charleston convention, being made the Iowa 
member of tlie committee on permanent organiza- 
tion, before wiiich committee the first contest was 
made between the Douglas and Breckenridge fac- 
tions. In that convention Judge Thayer voted 
fifty-six times for Stephen A'. Douglas for candi- 
date as president. The convention, without select- 
ing a candidate, adjourned to Baltimore, where 
on the first ballot Judge Douglas was placed in 
nomination. In 1862 Judge Thayer was the Dem- 
ocratic candidate for congress, but was defeated 
by Hiram Price. During his residence in Musca- 
tine Judge Thayer was engaged in the newspaper 
business, and in 1868 he moved to Clinton, where 
he established the Age, which paper he has since 
continued to edit and manage. He at once took 
a prominent jiart in advocating the construction 
of railroads, was director in several railroad com- 
pciuies, president of the Iowa Southwestern road, 
building a portion of that road and then operating 
it. He has been acti\e through his paper in urg- 
ing capital to establish manufactures in Iowa, has 
1)cen a leader in champinning the educational in- 
terests of the state, a persistent advocate of good 
roads, his work in that direction running through 
a period of twenty years. He has made the beet 
sugar industry a study, beginning the agitation of 
tliat subjecit in 1S73 and from time to time pul> 
lishing a vast amount, of valuable infonnation 
which had much to do with the establishment of 
beet sugar factories in this country, and he is now 
a firm believer in the practibility of growing sugar 
beets and manufacturing beet sugar in Iowa. 
In 1875 Judge Thayer was elected a member 



of the lower house of the general assembly of 
Iowa, and the following year he was appointed by 
Governor Kirkwood a trustee of the State Nor- 
mal School, assisting in the establishing of that 
institution, holding the oftice <jf president of the 
board for several years, resigning in 1885 tn ac- 
cept the office of postmaster of Clinton, whiclli, 
unsolicitited, was tendered him by President 
Cleveland. In 1876 he was chosen a delegate to 
the Democratic national convention which met in 
St. Louis, taking an acti\e part in securing the 
nomination of Samuel J. Tilden. In 1884 he was 
elected delegate-at-large to the national Demo- 
cratic convention held at Chicag;o, was selected 
as the Iowa member of the platform committee 
and performed valuable service in formulating the 
tarifif plank. 

Besides his active advocacy of good roads in 
the Daily Age, he inaugurated a movement for a 
good roads convention, which met at Des Moines 
in August, 1892. This was one of the largest 
assemblies outside of political gatherings ever 
held in the state, every county and nearly every 
city and town sending delegates. He was elected 
chairman of the convention, making an address 
upon the subject of good roads, and suljsequently, 
when the permanent organization known as the 
"Iowa Road Improvement Association" was or- 
ganized, he was elected the president, which po- 
sition he held for a number of years. 

In October, 1892, the first national convention 
to consider the subject of good roads met in 
Music Hall, Chicago. This convention was pre- 
sided over l:)y Judge Thayer, and sul>sequently 
when the National League of Good Roads was 
formed he was made chairman of the executive 
committee, which office he now holds. In Janu- 
ary, 1893, lie addressed the Iowa Bankers" Asso- 
ciation at their annual meeting, taking for his sub- 
ject, "Good ri)a<ls and Imw they eftect imr finan- 
cial condition." In October. 1893, he delivered 
two addresses in Chicago, one before the Ameri- 
can Bankers' Association at their meeting, being 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



547 



assignetl tlie subject, "Tlic CDnstructinn of good 
roads as a matter oi finance," and the ntlier be- 
fore tlie "(iood Roads Congress of tlie World's 
Columbian I'-xpdsition," his t(i])ic being, "A New 
Dt])arture." 

In i(S8o he was appniiUed by Gi)\ern(>r (iear 
the Iowa member of the Mississippi ri\'er states 
commission, taking a prominent part in the an- 
nual meetings which were held in New Orleans, 
Memphis, St. Louis and St. Paul. This commit- 
tee consisted of one member from each state Ijor- 
dering on the Mississippi river. It served the 
public many years and until congress recognized 
the importance of its work by providing for the 
exi-sting- national commission. 

For almost half a century Judge Thayer has 
been a familiar face in Democratic state conven- 
tions. He lias often been placed on the commit- 
tee on resolutions and he presided over the delib- 



erations of the convention of 1864, held at Des 
Mnines. 

In January, 1902, the Democratic members of 
the Iowa general assenil>iy voted unanimously for 
Judge Thayer for the office of United States sen- 
ator. J'"(ir se\'eral \-ears he was a memlier (if the 
school biiard of the city of Clinton, and fur 
twenty-five years a vestryman in St. Jnhn's Epis- 
copal church. In local matters the Age, under 
the direction of its editor, has been active in advo- 
cating and urging forward the material interests' 
of the city. At an early day, realizing the fact 
that railroads were essential to the growth, pros- 
perity and welfare of the state, the Age zealously 
and untiringly not only advocated gridironing the 
state with railroads but discountenanced and con- 
dennied the spirit of antagonism toward railroads 
which at times prevailed on the jiart of some of 
the |)eople and some of the lawmakers. 



WILLIAM FREDERICK CARROLL 

CHICAGO. ILL. 



William F. Carroll, attorney at law, repre- 
senting large corporate interests, is an actixe and 
able nienil)tr of the bar and has won honorable 
distinction for the capable manner in which he 
'has cared for the litigation entrusted to his care. 
His specialty is tax and corpora- 
tion law, and in the last few 
years he has handled the bulk of 
the tax and special assessment 
cases before the countv and su- 
preme courts. 

William F. Carroll was born 
at Cincinnati, ( )hio, l-'ebruary 
24. 1858, and is a son of William 
and Ceorgiana (Xorman) Car- 
roll. He was educated in the pulilic and high 
schools of Chicago. In 1874 he left school be- 
cause oi the financial misfortmies of his father. 




and took a position with Eugene Cary, manager 
of the German-.American Insurance Company, 
of Chicago, at six dollars per week, and at the 
same time worked evenings from six to ten P. 
M. at the Chicago' Public Lilirary, at three dol- 
lars ]>er week. At these employments he con- 
tinued for twoi years and in the meantime, at 
odd liours, .Sundays and iK-lidavs, studied short- 
hand. l!y Februru'X', 1877, he was proficient 
enough ti> accept the pi/sition of private secretary 
to C. H. Da\is, the accountant of the Pullman 
Car Coui])any. .and on Jul\- of that vear, on 
recommendation of Mr. l);i\is, he was ap]jointed 
private secretary to the general manager of the 
-M. I\. iX- T. Railway Company, at Sedalia, Mis- 
souri, at a salarv of eightv-five dollars ]5er month. 
During this lime he had been reading law nights.' 
and on September i, 1877, ga\-e up the position 



54^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



and returned to Chicago at a much reduced sal- 
ary to stud}- law in tlie office of Hon. E. D. 
Cooke, late congressman, and Henr}- D. Beam, 
prominent attorneys of the Chicago bar. He re- 
tained this position a year and on September i, 

1878, accepted a position as private secretary to 
James R. Wood, general passenger agent of tlie 
C. B. & Q. Railroad, and a few months later 
took the same position with C. W. Smith, gen- 
eral manager of the sajiie road. During all this 
time he ke]>t up his study of law, and in April, 

1879, at the age of twenty-one years, he tiKik 
the examination and was admitted to the bar. 

For the ne.xt three years he was law clerk for 
the late F. H. Kahis, and other lawyers of Chi- 
cago, and in the spring of 1883 went to Dakota, 
and later was api»inted attorney and manager 
of a large mortgage loan comixmy, at Huron, 
South Dakota. In 1886 he removed to St. Paul, 
Minnesota, and practiced law until he came to 
Ciiicago in 1893, where he managed a World's 
Fair Custom-house E.xhibiting Agency for a year 
and a half and then CDUimenced the practice of 



law in Chicago. In 1895 and 1896 he held for 
a time the position of county attorney in charge 
of tax matters, and assistant attorney of the 
Chicago Drainage Board. In 1896 he stumped 
the states of Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky for 
McKinley. 

Since 1897 Mr. Carroll has devoted his act- 
tive time and energy to his law practice and has 
worked up a large business. He has made a 
specialty of tax, sj>ecial assessment and corjxira- 
tiiin law, and is now in receipt of a large inciime 
from his practice. 

Mr. Carroll was a member of the Drill Corps 
of Company C, First Regiment, of Chicago, 
from 1876 to 1878. Politically he is a stanch 
Republican, and in religicms l>elief an Episco- 
palian. 

Mr. Carroll was married in February, 1884, 
to Miss Jeanie Charlotte Adams, daughter of the 
late James .\dams of Ouincy, Illinois, and a de- 
scendant of the .\dams of Massachusetts. Her 
mother was of the Arrowsnu'th family, of Xew 
York. 



JOHN CHAUNCEY TRAINOR 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



John Chauncey Trainor, one of the promi- 
nent lawyers of Chicago, represents many large 
interests in the city and is highly \alued for his 
great ability and his success is his profession. 

John C. Trainor was born at Watertown, 
Jefferson county, New York, May 18, 1858. and 
is the son of James and Catherine Tnainor. 
His education was ac(|uired in his native place, 
and upon its completion he began the study of 
law in the office of Hannibal Smith, who was the 
princiixil of the Watertown high .school when he 
first entered that institution, and an nld and 
valued friend. During the winter terms of 1878 
and 1879 he temiMirarily left the law office to 



teach in the village scIkhiI at East Rodman, 
Jefferson ci unity, Xew York, after which he re- 
sumed his legal studies in the office of Edmund 
B. Wynn, general cixmsel for the Rome, Water- 
town & Ogdensburg Railroad Company. He 
was admitted to the bar January 6, 1882. by the 
supreme court held at Syracuse, Xew York. 

Air. Trainor came to Chicago August 27, 
1883. first opening an office at the suburb of 
Kensington, and after establishing a permanent 
practice, he removed his office to Chicago, his 
residence still being in Kensington. 

Mr. Trainor was married October 14, 1880, 
to Miss Deette M. Cavanaugh, of \\'atertown, 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



551 



New ^'| rk. (laughter of Thomas T. and ]\lar_v 
E. Ca\enaiigh, and grand-daughter of Chandler 
C. Chase, of W'atertown. Mrs. Trainor's i)ar- 
ents owned and operated a large dairy farm of 
between three hundretl and four hundred aerea; 
at the junction of the three towns of Rodman, 
Rutland and Watertown, and about seven miles 
from the city of W'atertown. Her grandfather, 
Mr. Chase, was a well-to-do farmer in the town- 
shi]> and died in April, 1803, at eighty-three vear-j 
of age. Mr. Chase liad been assessor of his 



township for a number of years and was one of 
the best-known and most respected men in Jef- 
ferson county. Mrs. Trainor died in Septemlwr, 
1893, leaving five children, three girls and two 
boys. She was a beautiful wcjman, of rare in- 
tellectual end( )wments. 

Mr. Trainur is an energetic, successful huv- 
}er ; he has a tine home in Kensington and other 
investments there. Jn politics he is a Republi- 
can, whose activity and zeal are of recognized 
\'a]ue to the party. 



ORSON SMITH 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Orson Smith, president of the ^Merchants' this early age determined to become a banker he 
Loan & Trust Comjiany, is one of the noted finan-- could hardly ha\-e found a lietter instructor. Mr. 



cicrs of Chicago and has been conspicuous in all 
the movements, changes and evolutions that ha\e 
helped to make Chicago a great financial center. 
He is a man noted for his con- 
servatism, excellent business aliil- 
ity, foresight and sound judg- 
ment, 'i'he zeal with which he 
has de\'oted his energies t(.i his 
business and the careful regard 
for the interests of all his deposi- 
tors and an assiduous and unre- 




Adams was a successful banker and had or- 
ganized his house in 1852. With him Mr. Smith 
labored for eleven years, rising from one clerk- 
ship to the next in importance until 1863, when 
a cliange was made in the n;nne and character of 
the bank. Mr. Adams had concluded to go to- 
New York City. A charter was taken out for 
the 'i'raders" Bank and Mr. Adamis' private insti- 
tution became merged into a state bank of that 



large and successful business. 



name. Later on the name was changed to the 
Traders' National Bank, Mr. Smith remaining 
laxing attention to all the details through all these years, until the vear 1870, hav- 
ha\e brought to his bank a very ing reached the position of chief clerk and as- 
sistant cashier. For many years Mr. Smith haJ 
Mr. Smith is a native-born Chicagoan. Lie been interested in the affairs of the Board of 
was born here Decemlier 14, 1841, and received Trade, and when, about that time, there was or- 
his education in the public and private schools of ganized the Corn Exchange National Bank, the 
this city. His ambition to begin the battle of lif-J intention of the promoters \yemg to cater largely 
for himself induced him to leave his studies at an to the Board of Trade business, he resigned from' 
early ]>eriod. When but thirteen years of age he tlic Traders' National Bank and took a position in 
entered the retail store of Potter Palmer as bun- the new concern. The Corn Exchange National 
die boy. where he remained one year, when ha Bank was organized with Julian S. Rumsey as 
secured a position as clerk in the private banking president, S. A. Kent as vice-president and Orson 
house of F. Granger Adams. Had he even at Smith as cashier. In 1881 this bank went out of 



552 



PROMINENT -MEN OF THE GRI-AT WEST. 



existence. Inil ui)on it.s foundatinn aiK.ther insti- 
tution v.:is started. Tliis was a state organiza- 
tion and was called the Ci^rn E.xcliange Bank. 
JMr. Smith was retained as cashier and held the 
positiiai until the spring of 1884. when he re- 
signed and accepted the vice-presidency of the 
^lerchants' Loan & Trust Comi)an_\-. This posi- 
tion he held until elected to the i)rcsitlency in 
1898. As has been mentioned. Mr. Smith has fi.n 
many years been closely identilied with the affairs 
of the Chicago' Board df Trade, lie has held 
many positions (.)f trust in this l)i;d)-, among theiii 
that of treasurer, to which office he was elected 
annually from 187^ to 1878. He is also inter- 
ested in the Chicago Stock Exchange and has 
been a member of the governing committee, and 
for several years has also been a member of the 
executive committee of the Chicago Clearing 
House Association. 

The .Merchants' Loan &: Trust Company is 
one of tile dldest banking institutions in the stare 
cf Blini:is. having been organized in 1857. Start- 
ing out with a capital of half a million dollars, it 
has since been increased to two milHun dollars. 
Mr. b hn 11. Dunham was the lirst president. 



The thirteen original trustees were Isaac N. 
.\rnold, \V. E. Doggett, U. R. lb It, William B. 
Ogden, John 11. Foster, Waller I.. .\'c\\ Terry, 
Henry b'arnuni, Jonathan Burr, (ieorge Steele. 
J. H. Dunham, F. B. Cooley, A. II. lUirley and 
John High, names that must awaken a host of 
recollections to the Chicago resident of ante- 
bellum days. Most of these have ])assed away in 
the great beyontl. and of those sur\-i\'ing only 
one, Air. A. H. Burley, is now actively identified 
witli the institution. The Merchants' Loan & 
Trust Company now occupies the elegant new 
building named after it on the corner (.)f Clark 
and -'vdams streets, where they have the whole 
of the lianking floor. 

Mr. .Smith is a well-known man in Chicago 
and 111 lids actixe memberships in many of the 
prominent clubs and social organizations of the 
citv. He has never had any inclination to a pub- 
lic life, as his carlv educatinn and business train- 
ing fitted him f( r a financier, and as a banker iie 
prefers to be and is best known. 

He was united in marriage December 14. 
1871, to Miss Anna Rice, daughter of Jnhn B. 
Rice, who was twice mayor of Chicago. 



JUSTUS CHANCELLOR 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



lustus Chancelliir was born near the town of 
Oxford. Bentim co.unly, Indiana, Octnber 1..', 
1863. His father was Jnhn Cooper Chancellor, 
of Scotch-Irish iiarentage. a native of Virginia. 



withi-Ut examinations. He attended the -Vnrtli- 
western Uni\ersity, but never entered college. 
ha\ing sought means of earning a living, and tak- 
ing the steps he thought best to cpialify him for 



and wdio at an carlv date mcxed to Indiana and entering updU a professional career. He knew, 

eno-ao-ed in farming. His nicther, I^lizabeth however, that this cculd m n 1>e secured until he 

Jennie fustus, was of Cicrmaii and W elsh par- had secured, sufficient capital to meet the neces- 

c„t;ioe. sarv ex])eiiditure. He accordingly began work 

Mr. Chancellor acquired his literary cduca- upon the farm and also at carpentering and build- 

tion in the public school of Yincennes, Indiana, ing, and u.sed these means as stepping stones to 

where be graduated from the high school with a something liigher. During this period of labnr, 

standiii"- entitling him to admissi(.n U> the cnllege while he was earning money with which to enter 





^i^d^eC^^^{^^^yy^ 



Tie L.e\yts puilishin^ Co 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



555 



the law school, he took up a course of study under 
DeWolf & Chamhcrs, prominent attorneys at 
X'incennes, and in Octoher, 1883, he came to 
Chicago and entered the Union College of Law. 
\\'hile at home during vacation the same year he 
was stricken with t_Yphoid fe\-er and confined to 
his bed seven months. At the end of this time, 
the college season being far advanced, he did not 
deem it advisable to return until the f(.>llowing 
October, when he resumed his studies and after- 
\A-ard graduated in 1886. 

In the fall of 1884, when he returned to com- 
plete his law course, ne accepted a clerkshipi in 
the office of Charles S. Thornton in order to 
familiarize himself with the practical w'orkings 
of the law and the methods of the court room. 
He continued in this capacity until 1888, when 
the firm of Thornton & Chancellor was organ- 
ized. 

Mr. Chancellor as a real estate and corpora- 
tion lawyer has won distinguished preferment, 
and his connection with some of the most im- 
[lortant law suits that ha\-e been hear in the ci\il 
courts have given him a reputation that places 
liim high aljove the a\-erage lawyer. He is well 
\-ersed in the \-arious branches of the law. His 
arguments are logical, clear and con\'incing. 
Tiie firm was counsel in the celebrated embezzel- 
ment and forgery case of Rand. McX'alh- & Com- 
l)any against Charles R. Williams, when nine- 



ti.n indictments had been f(juntl against their 
client. The trial lo.jk si.\ weeks and the verdict 
was "not guilt}-." The well-known Ayer contro- 
\ersy was another case of note in which Mr. 
Chancclli^- displayed much skill. The estate of 
John Cayer against the bondholders of Riverside 
Improvement Company had been in litigation 
many years and the firm of Thorniton & Chancel- 
k)r, as counsel for the estate, succeeded in secur- 
ing a first judgment, in which the bondholders 
w'ere defeated. 

Mr. Chancellor, owing to his knowledge of 
corporation law, is constantly in charge of very 
important interests. He is an indefatigable 
worker. A Republican in politics, he takes great 
interest therein, and in 1884, when Hon. James 
( ;. Blaine was the Rqniblican nominee for the 
presidency, Mr. Chancellor devoted his time to 
making speeches throughout the campaign. 

Mr. Chancellor was married in May, 1889, to 
I\Iiss Hattie Theodosia Lincoln Harper, a Vir- 
ginian by birth. They have a son and daughter 
and live at Lake \'iew, where, being a man of 
scliolarlv tastes and studious habits, he spends 
manv hours with his favorite authors. He has a 
\ erv large and well-selected library. He is a 
member of the Marquette Clul), the Chicago 
Hussars, and belongs to the order of the Knights 
of Rvthias; is a Knight Templar, a thirty-second 
decree ]\lason and a n(.ble of the Mvstic Shrine. 



HON. WILLIAM BENNETT CUNNINGHAM 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Juilge Willi.nn \'>. Cunningham, senior mem- 
ber of the law tirm of Cunningham, Vogel & Cun- 
ningham, with oflices in the Chamber of Com- 
merce building, Chicago, was born June 11, 1838, 



])aternal grandfather was born in rennsyhania 
and his maternal grandfather was Donald Mc- 
(jregor of Coiuitv ln\erness, Scotland. 

^fr. Cunningham was educated at Hiram, 



at New Castle, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Ohio, and on leax'ing school he read law with S. 
Joseph and Janet (McGregor) Cunningham. His W. Dana in New Castle, Pennsylvania, until 



556 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



December, 1861, when he went to war as pay- 
master an<l remained in tlie army until the close 
of tiie war in 1865, when he was honorably dis- 
charged. He resumed his law studies at Murphy- 
Ixjro, Tennessee, and was admitted to the bar in 
1865. 

Kovemlier ist, 1805, he UKivcd to Canton, 
Mississippi. ])urchased a cotton plantation on 
which he li\ed. and in the meantime practicing 
law in Canton. In 1869 he was elected a member 
of the constitution convention of Mississippi, and 
si>ent six months at Jackson. Mississippi, in said 
convention. He was chairman of the committee 
on education and i)ersiinally prepared the scliool 
law of the state of Mississippi. He was then 
elected to the house of representati\es and served 
one year, when he was elected judge of the coun- 
ty court I if Maclison count v and serxed as such 
two years, when he was made judge of the circuit 
court for the district cumprising Madison, 
Holmes, Yazoo, Leake and Atalla counties, and 
held court seven years in that district. The cir- 
cuit Court was also the criminal court, and the 
murder trials during the reconstruction [leriod 



were numerous and many times great excitement 
pre\ailed during said trials, especially in Yazoo 
c('Unty. 

Judge Cunningham was married in 1867 to 
Katherine Morhead, of Penn.sylvania, who died 
in Mississip])i. in 1876, leaving three cliildrcn. 
On May i, 1877, Judge Cunningham moved to 
Cliicago, desiring a wider field of operation, and 
commenced the practice of law, which he has con- 
tinued e\cr since with great success. His prac- 
tice is large, embracing many cases of an im- 
portant character in the state courts and lately 
has l)een nuich engaged, the courts of the United 
States re(pnring a knowledge of the intricate 
IMoblems of jurisprudence. He has appeared in 
many noted cases and is regarded as one of the 
leading lawyers of the Chicago l)ar. He has trav-i 
eled extensively throughout the United States. 

Politically he is a Republican, and cast his 
first vote for Aliraham Lincoln. Li religious 
matters he is a Presbyterian and has always at- 
tended that church. His three children are all 
living in Chicago and William B., his son, is his 
law partner. 



LEMUEL CONANT GROSVENOR, M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Lemuel Conant Grosvenor, I\L 1)., as his 
name indicates, is descended from two noted 
colonial families, the Grosvenors and the Conants, 
whose i)n.!minence in medicine, in the ministry 
ar.d as anti-slavery workers is a matter of his- 
tory. His father. Deacon Silas N. Grosvenor, 
was a leading business man of Paxton, Massa- 
chusetts, and his mother, whose maiden name 
was IMary A. Conant, was a daughter of Rev. 
Gains Conant, for tw^enty-five years pastor of the 
Paxton Congregational church. It was his 
mother's wish that her eldest son, Lemuel, should 



become a clergyman, Imt the l)o\'s inclination 
was in another direction, and from an early age 
it was his earnest desire to enter the medical 
profession. 

The Doctor was Iwrn at Paxton in 1833, at- 
tended Williston Seminary, at Easthampton, 
Massachusetts, and on the removal of the family 
to ^^'orcester. entered the high school there, 
where he remained a student four years. He en- 
tered the kx'al literary societies and received the 
valuable literary training that later in life has 
gained for him the prestige of being among the 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



559 



ablest piihlic speakers in Cliicago. It was here also 
that he fdiind lime to cultivate his musical tal- 
erits, acquirins;- what has since been to him one 
of the i^reatest sources of recreatinn during the 
busiest years of his professional life. When lie 
was seventeen years old his ]>arents moved to 
Sauk county, Wisconsin, then considered well 
toward the western frontier, and the rugged pio- 
neer life he there encountered exercised consid- 
erable influence upnn the development of the 
strong side of his character. With the desire to 
live to some noble purpose, the first winter after 
settling in Wisconsin he secured a <listrict school 
at West Point, in Columbia coamty, the lirst c\er 
held at that puint. At the close of his winter's 
work, wherein he had followed the old custom of 
"boarding around," he found himself the owner 
of si.xty dollars in gold. Not content with his 
(iwn education, he obtained his father's consent, 
■and, with his pack on his back, started on foot 
for Milwaukee, a distance of one hundred miles, 
and from' there made his way to his old home in 
Worcester. There he again entered the high 
.school to perfect himself in higher mathematics 
and sur\-eying, and in the winter of 1849 he re- 
sumed teaching. The next ten years of his life 
were devoted toi this profession, wbich he fol- 
lowed with marked success, having charge diu'- 
ing this time of the district school of Scituate, a 
select school of Rutland, the Union high school 
at Scituate Harbor and the South Hingham 
grammar .school, of which he was principal. He 
was also' for seven years teacher of the old 
Mather Scluxil in Dorchester, and from which he 
could ha\'e stepped to higher honors as a teacher 
had he so chc'Sen. His ability as an educator bad 
become widely recognized, but, nevertheless, 
while in Boston his reso1uti<jn to enter the medi- 
cal profession became firmly iixed. Declining a 
chair in the Brooklyn Polytechnic Schdol. he re- 
turned west and took u]) the study of medicine in 
the Cleveland Medical College, from which he 



was graduated in the spring of 1864. He l)cgan 
practice in Peoria, Illinois, and remained there 
three years. His next home was in (ialesl)urg, 
but in 1870 he located in Chicago, where he be- 
came widely known as a leader in his profession. 
He enjoys a large general practice, and as an 
obstetrician has no. superior. He has given this 
branch of the profession his special attention and 
sbould be classed among the benefactors of the 
race and have everlasting renown. During the 
great Chicago fire in 1871 Dr. (h-osvenor per- 
formed a noble ser\'ice for the destitute and 
homeless that should never be forgotten. He was 
the only physician on the north side whose house 
was not burned down, but his own good fortune 
did not blind him to- his duty to his fellow citi- 
zens, and for months he labored unceasingiy t(j 
provide food, .shelter and medical attention for 
the thousands who were sufYerers from the con- 
fTagration. 

Dr. Grosvenor has for many years l>een con- 
nected with the Cbicagoi Homeopathic Medical 
College, in which he holds flie chair of clinical 
obstetrics. For many years he held the chair of 
sanitary science in the same institutions, a chair 
wbicli was created especially for him, and which 
was the first full professorship created in that de- 
partment by any college in the country. He has 
been on the executive board of the college for a 
considerable period, and for twenty-five years 
was a member of the Chicago Academy of Phy- 
sicians and Surgeons, serving for three terms as 
president. He was for two years president o^f 
the American Paedological Society, and for 
many vears an honored member of the .\merican 
Institute of Homeopathy. 

As a lecturer the Doctor is well known. His 
lectures entitled "Our Boys," "Our Girls" and 
"The Value of a Purpose" have been delivered 
quite extensively throughout the country and 
have proven especially i>opular and are a great 
help to yovmg people. He is a member and trus- 



560 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



tec of the Liiiciilii Park Cungregatiunal church, 
and also a cliarter memlier of the Chicago Con-. 
gregational Clul). His first wife was Miss Helen 
M. Prouty, i)f Dorchester, Massachusetts, whom 
he married in 1865. She was a daughter of 
Lorenzo Prouty and a granddaughter of Da\id 
A. Prouty, the in\ent(ir of the first iron plow. 
Mrs. Grosvenor dietl in i>^74. ]ea\ing three chil- 
dren, Lorenzo M. and Wallace P., both of wdiom 
are practicing physicians, and Ellen Elfreda, 
who died early. Li 1877 the Doctor married 
Miss Xaomi J(.iscphine llassett, of Taunton. 
Massachusetts. There were fnur children fmm 



this second marriage. Inez and Gertrude died 
wlien two and three years of age, respectively. 
Tlie two sur\iving children, David Bassett and 
Lucy Ella, are l>eautiful and interesting children. 
Dr. Grosvenor possesses a rugged constitu- 
tiiiu, and has a host of friends to whom he has 
endeared himself by his kindly manner, his warm- 
hearted and sympathetic nature and his untiring 
efforts in behalf of suffering humanity. He has 
achieved renown in his professiou and is con- 
sidered the leader in his chosen field ; vet it is as 
a citizen and a man among" men that the Doctor 
is held in highest esteem. 



LOUIS EISENDRATH 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Louis Eisendrath, of the well and favorably 
known house of Strauss, Eisendrath & Com- 
jjanv, manufacturers of ladies' waists, skirts and 
boys" and children's clothing, of Chicago, Illinois, 
is one of the most active business men of that 
city. He cares for the large busi- 
ness of the firm with an ease born 
of li>ng experience, which shows 
famiharity with every detail of 
the many dq>artments of this 
great manufacturing" and jobbing 
concern, whose goods are sold 
throug-hout the United States. 

Louis Eisendrath was born in 
Westphalia, Germany, October 
16, 1853, and is a son of Levi and Helen Eisen- 
drath. With his parents he came to America 
carl\- iu life and was educated in Chicago, where 
he has since resided. ^Ir. Eisendrath's first busi- 
ness experience v.as as a cash l:)oy in one of the 
large dry goods stores and later was a traveling" 
salesman. He organized and started the present 
firm in 1886, at first in a small way, and which 




he built up and enlarged yearly until now the 
house is recognized as one of the leaders in its 
line in Chicago and the west. 

Mv. Eisendrath is a member of the Standard 
Club of Chicago. He has tra\eled extensively 
lx)th in Europe and America. 

Politically Mr. Eisendrath is a stanch Re- 
publican, ha\"ing supported his party since cast- 
ing his first vote. In religious matters he is of 
the liljeral Jewish faith. 

Mr. Eisendrath is a man of strong character, 
remarkable nerx-ous energy and business force, 
an.d is one who is always doing something and 
wlio makes every miinite count during business 
hours. Pie is recognized as a prominent citizen 
of Chicago and a man of affairs. 

Mr. Eisendrath was married June 2, 1874, to 
INIiss Hannah Strauss, daughter of Levi Strauss, 
of Ouincv. Illinois. They have three children: 
r^Irs. Blanch E. Spiesberger. wife of Sam E. 
Spiesberger; Joseph L. : and Leon L. Eisendrath. 
The family reside on Calumet avenue, Chicago, 
where thev own a handsome residence. 



PKO.MIXEXT .MEN OF THE GREA'I" WEST 



561 



HON. DAVID R. FRANCIS 

ST. LOUIS, MO. 




Da\i<l RhwLmuI I'rancis, president nf the 
Louisiana. Purchase Expusiliun Company, ami 
ex-officio cliairnian uf the executive cumniittce 
of the corp(H"ation engaged in tlie ci.r;structinn i;!' 
the World's Fair t(; be held at St. Li uis in 1904, 
tiers, and the grandfather of 
was 1)1 irn at Richni'ind, Madison 
county, Kentucky, Octiiber i, 
1850. His father, John B. Fran- 
cis, was a descendant of a promi- 
nent \'irginia fannly and a pol- 
ished gentleman of the old 
southern type. 

The founders of the family 
in Kentucky were pioneer set- 
Da\ id l\. was a soldier in the war if 1812. His 
mctlier. Eliza (Caldwell) Rcwland. was a de- 
scendant of Da\id lr\ine, ( f Lynchburg, X'irginia, 
whose ten daughters were among the most dis- 
tinguished of the pioneer women of Kentucky, 
and left their impress upon the history and si cial 
characteristics of the state. 'Idle hwines were 
<.if honorable Scotch lineage and its representa- 
tives were amcmg the earliest colonists of \'ir- 
ginia. 

lJa\id R. Francis inherite<l the i)hysical and 
mental (|ualities (.f his sturdy ancestry. His pri- 
mary education was recei\ed at Richmond Acad- 
'.'m_\ in his native town. Removing to St. Louis 
in 1866, he entered Washington University and 
was graduated in the class of 1870. He imniedi- 
atel_\- entered commercial lile. and for the next 
five years was emiiloyed as shi]iping clerk and in 
other capacities by a wholesale grocery house. 
In 1877 lie engaged in the grain business on his 
own accmint, and se\-en years later founded the 
well-known 1). R. Francis & Brotlier Commis- 
sion Compan\'. and entered into the exportation 



of grain, wliicli has largely engaged his attention 
since that time. 

Though one of the youngest nTcmbers of th.e 
.Merchants' Exchange, Mr, Francis oi)tained 
prompt and. tlecided recognition for business 
sagacity, success in operations and prudent fore- 
sight, and was made vice-president of that body 
in 1883, and in 1884 ^\'^s elected president. He 
is identified with many of the most important 
business institutions of the city, and is at the 
present time a direct(jr of the Mississippi A'alley 
Trust Company and vice-president of the ]\Ier- 
chants-Laclede National Bank. He is a large 
stockholder in the St. Louis & Colorado^ Rail- 
way Company, and greatly interested in the pres- 
ent construction of that line into the west and 
southwest. He is also closely identified w itli the 
organized charities of the city. 

In 1885 Mr. Francis was the Demixratic 
candidate for ma_\-or of the city of St. Louis, and 
in spite of an adverse majority of fourteen thou- 
sand yi;tes at the last ])receding election, he was 
elected by tweU'e hund.red majority. His ad- 
ministration was a purely business one, and judg- 
ing from results, was eminently successful. He 
brought about the reduction of interest on th.e 
municipal indebtedness from six and se\'en to 
three and sixty-fi\-e hundredths and four \Ky 
cent. ; enforced the payment of a judgment of one 
million dollars against the Pacific Railway Com- 
pany : instituted reforms in the de[)artments of 
the cit\' go\-ernment : forced the reductioin in the 
price of gas from two dollars and a half to one 
dollar and a (piarter per thousand feet, and was 
instrunjiental in extending the city's water sup- 
ply. His \'igoroiis and successful ad\'ocac_\- of 
street reconstruction has placed the city of St. 
Louis in the ranks of the best paved cities of the 



562 



PKOAIIXEXT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



L'nittd States. J le was the progeiiitnr of the 
"Xew St. Liuis" of to-day. 

in iSSS he was nominated by the Democratic 
party and elected governor of the State of ]\Iis- 
stjuri. His administration was so completely 
successful that it is yet pointed to as a model. 
It was clean, broad, economical- without parsi- 
mony, patriotic and progress!\'e. He gave much 
thought to, and in a most efficient manner pro^ 
moted the cause of public education, particularly 
aiding the State University and elevating ita 
standard and exalting its reputation to its pres- 
ent renown. 

Retiring from office at the close of his guber- 
natorial term, Governor Francis resumed his 
business affairs with his former enterprise and 
success. In 1896 he was called by President 
Cleveland to his cabinet as secretary of the in- 
terior, and immediately brought into this larger 
public ser\ice the energy and thoughtfulness he 
displayed in lesser public stations and in his pri- 
vate business. 



In the course of an exceedingly busy life he 
has found time tO' solve the problems (jf goxern- 
ment and also educate himself in art. literature 
and science, and few men of his age are possessed 
of as many and varied accomplishments. He is 
an attractive public si>eaker, is entirely demo- 
cratic in his tastes and has a natural and charm- 
ing personality. 

When the World's Fair enterprise came t(.> 
be considered, by common consent and absolute 
unanimity Governor Francis was called on to 
head the gigantic enterprise. He accepted the 
commission and entered upon the work with a 
zeal and determination that were infectinus, and 
gave inspiration to his lieutenants. He devotes, 
entirely without compensation, nearly all his time 
to the World's Fair w'ork, and has organized it 
so thoroughly and systematically that its success 
is already assured. 

Go\-ernor Francis was married in 1876 to 
iSIiss Jennie Perry, of St. Louis, and they ha\'e 
six children, all boys. 



ANSON B. JENKS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Anson B. Jenks, a great scholar and a greai. 
lawyer, one of the most solid professional men 
of the city, has been in active practice in Chicago 
for forty-three years, ha\-ing in that time gained 
an eminent and commanding position at the 
bar. 

Anson B. Jenks was born at Berkshire, Tioga 
county, New York, in the year 1836, and is a 
son of Calvin and Annis (Brown) Jenks, the first 
peo])le to settle in that county. He was admitted 
to the bar in the spring of 1858, upon examina- 
tion at Norwich, New York, and immediately 
began practice at Owego, where he remained 
until the fall of 1859, when he came to Chicagrl 
and o^pened a law office, in partnership with Hon. 



G. C. Walker, since governor of Virginia, under 
the firm; name of W'alker & Jenks. TwO' years 
later this partnership came tO' a close and Mr. 
Jenks continued' tO' practice by himself until 
1865, when he became associated with Mr. F. G. 
Bradley, the firm being known as Jenks & Brad- 
ley. This partnership was dissolved at the thv.< 
of the Chicago fire in 1871, and since that time 
^Ir. Jenks has practiced alone. His profes- 
sional career has been highly successful, he hav- 
ing been identified with many important cases. 
During the two- score years or more that he ha? 
been a member of the Chicago bar he has devoted' 
his entire energy to his profession, and by so 
doing built up a large practice, composed for the 




a.i^.%€^c^^^^<^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



565 



most part of civil cases. He is tlioroughly Dem- elementary questions of law to the conn and is 

ocratic in his political l)€liefs, hut prefers not to pre-eminent as a lawyer, al)le and well read, a 

take an acti\e part in political matters. good husiness man and an upright, influential 

Mr. Jenks is aj)! and furceahlc in ])resenting citizen. 



GENERAL JOHN M. PALMER 

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. 



John McAuley Palmer, major general of vol- 
unteers, governor of the state, United States 
senator and candidate of the national Demo- 
cratic i)arty for president nf the L'nitcd States in 
1S96, has been a leading figure in Illint)is for 
sixty years. His activity continued almost up 
to the time of his death, and his name is as fa- 
miliar to- the young men of to-day as it was to 
th.eir grandparents. He was practically the last 
of the "old guard,"' the companions and friends 
of Lincoln and his associates. General McCler- 
nand, a contemporary, died recently, and 
about the only one left now is Colonel William 
R. Morrison, new living in retirement in Wa- 
terloo. 

General Palmer w-as born in Scott county, 
Kentucky, on September 15, 1817, making him 
a few days over eighty-three at the time of his 
death. His father came from Virginia, as did 
his mother, and his paternal grandfather was a 
soldier in the Revolutionary w-ar. He was of 
mi.xed Saxon and Celtic descent, some of his an- 
cestors coming from England and others from 
Scotland and Wales. His middle name McAuley 
was derived fmni his paternal grandmother, who 
was the daughter of a Scottish immigrant. 

In 183 1 his parents moved to Illinois, set- 
tling within ten miles of Alton, and he went 
along. The family li\ed in a Itjg house. In 1834, 
when he was se\-enteen years old, his father "gave 
him his lime. " The next day, without money 
or a change of clothes, he walked to Upper Alton, 
where a college had just been established. He 



got a job as helper to a builder and earned money 
enough to enable him toi attend school. In 1838 
he became a scIkxjI teacher near Canton, Fulton 
county, studying law in the meantime, and in 
1840 he began the practice of his profession at 
Carjinville, Macoupin connty. He also took his 
first hand in politics this year, working and sj>eak- 
ir.g for the election of Martin Van Buren. 

From this time on John M. Palmer began to 
he known in southern Illinois, which at this time 
was the tnore important part of the state. In 
1843 he was elected probate judge, and in 1847 
a delegate to the constitutional convention of 
that year. In this convention he made a strong 
attempt to incorporate in the organic law of the 
state a clause providing for free schools, but as 
he himself put it afterwards, "it was too' early for 
the adoption of a free school policy, and the con- 
vaition paid no attention to me." He was again 
elected probate judge, and in 1848 county judge. 
In 1852 was elected state senator, and re-elected 
in 1854 as an anti-Nebraska Democrat. 

Then came the formation of the Republican 
party, and John M. Palmer, who- had come to 
be recognized as one of the more influential Dem- 
ocrats of the state, joined it. He was chainnan 
of the first Republican state convention which as- 
seml)Ied in Illinois. This was in Blooming^on, 
in 1856, and Lincoln, Yates, and others as well 
known were delegates, .\fter this Mr. Palmer 
thought he was through with politics and went 
back to the practice of law, but in 1859 he was 
nominated for congress. He w'as beaten, how- 



566 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



ever, by (jeneral Jolin McClernand. the Demo- 
cratic cainlidate. In i860 he was chosen a presi- 
dential elector and cast his vote in the Electoral 
College f( r Lincoln. 

Then came tlic Ci\il war, anil four well- 
known IJemocrats. or former Democrats, from 
the southern part of the state were commissioned 
as colonels of Illinois regiments by President 
Lincoln, who knew them all well. They were 
Jolm AI. Palmer, Jului A. Logan. William Mor- 
rison and John A. McClernand. Colonel ]Morri- 
son was severely wounded at Fort Donelson early 
in the war and had to retire from the service. The 
three others continued throngh to the end, ren- 
dering distinguished ser\-ice. 

John M. Palmer was rapidly promoted, and 
was made a major general for conspicuous ability 
and gallantry at Stone River. At the close of 
the war he was appointed military governor of 
Kentuckv, his native state. Here he found many 
vexed matters to deal with, not the least of which 
was the question as to whether or not the emanci- 
pation proclamation applied to Kentucky, which 
had never seceded, although furnishing as many 
men to the Confederate as to the Federal army. 
General Palmer issued his general order. Xo. 32, 
in which the freedom of the slaves of the state was 
practically recognized and in return the grand 
jury of the coimty in w hich Louisville is situated 
indicted him for actions contrary to the laws of 
the state. 

Kentucky l>eing under martial law and Gen- 
eral Palmer in complete control> it was not 
thought he would pay any attention to these writs. 
lie. however, did recognize the authority of the 
civil courts, and. taking off his miifiirm, went 
into co'iu't and pleaded to the indictments. The 
cases were never pressed. Li 1866 General 
Palmer was offered by Cieneral Grant a commis- 
sion as brigadier-general in the regular army. He 
refused it, however, and, returning to Illinois, 
went to S])ringfield and entered into a law part- 
nerslii]-) with IMilton Hay. 



The partnership only lasted two years, and 
then (jeneral Palmer was nt/minated for governor 
of Illinois by the Republicans and elected in 1868. 
He found a corrupt legislature on his hantls. and 
scon made himself extremely unpopular with the 
members of both houses by the frecpiency and 
sharpness of his vetoes. Altogether he vetoed 
one hundred and twelve bills, an unheard of num- 
ber in tliose days, when the \'eto power was but 
rarely used, and not the least important of the 
bills which he refused to sign was the bill grant- 
iiig the Illinois Central Railroad its present hold 
on the lake front of Chicago. The legislature, 
however, passed this bill over his veto. It only 
took a majority vote to accomplish this under the 
state constitution at that time. 

It was during his term as governor the Chi- 
cago tire occurred, and with it an incident which 
showed that while the slaverj- question and the 
exigencies of war times had made John M. 
Palmer a Republican, he still clung tO' the old 
doctrines of a strict construction of the constitu- 
tion which formed the backbone of the then 
Democratic creed. In the confusion after the 
great fire some leading citizens of Chicago, look- 
ing around for a\ailal)le police protection, called 
on General Phil Sheridan, then stationed in this 
cily, to take command and use the troops under 
him and such as could be raised for [xjlice. Gen- 
eral Sheridan agreed and took charge. 

Then the governor of the state arose in his 
wrath. He hurried militia from other cities to 
Chicago, and at the same time sent a peremptory 
demand to General Grant, then president, to with- 
draw at once tlie federal troops from Illinois, de- 
claring that they would not be allowed here unless 
the governor if the state had first made a request 
for federal aid. which in this case was not need- 
ed. There was nothing else for General Sheridan 
to do Init get out with the best grace he could, 
l)Ut the aft'air caused much controversy here at 
the time, and the feeling was heightened by the 
unfortunate shooting of a well-known citizen by 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



567 



one of Slicridan's pickets. Governor Palmer, 
hii\\e\er, at (jiice called a special session of the 
legislature, which \-oted Chicago material aid. 
Sfioii after this General Palmer went back to the 
Democratic party anil the practice of law. He 
li\ed quietly in Springfield, and he and ev-ery one 
else supposed he was out of politics for good. 

This same year the Democrats held a state 
cons'entiiin in Springfield and h\- unanimous \'ote 
asked Jomn M. Palmer to become their candidate 
for governor. He consented, and in his speech 
of acceptance, in speaking of recent labor 
troubles at the stock vards in Chicago, and the 
duty of the state executive in such matters, made 
use of the term which became the slogan of the 
campaign, ".\s strong as the law, no stronger; 
as weak as the law, no weaker." 

It was a remarkable campaign. General 
Palmer carried Cook county for the first time it 
had been carried by a Democrat in a Presidential 
election since 1876, and for a time it looked as 
if he was elected. He was defeated, but Gov- 
ernor Fifer"s majority was less than fifteen thou- 
sand. Two years afterwards General Palmer did 
a new thing in politics. With the argument that 
if United States senators could not be elected by 
a direct \-ote of the people, it would be an ap- 
proach to it if the people knew who the member 
of the legislature for whom they were asked to* 
vote would vote if he were elected. At his sug- 
gestion he was nominated by the Democratic state 
convention of 1890 as the party candidate for 
United States senator, and the convention in- 
structed all Democratic members of the legisla- 
ture to vote for him for that office. 

The election resulted in the famous "loi" 
legislature. On joint ballot it stood one hun- 
dred and one Democrats, ninety-eight Repul)li- 
cans and three Populists, h'or two months they 
ballotted for United .States senator. F<ir two 
months General Palmer held the one hundred and 
one solidly in line, although it was at times hard 
work to keep some of them. Finally, after the 



Republicans had voted for a number of candi- 
dates in the hope of capturing the votes of the 
three Populists two of the latter voted for Palmer 
and he was elected. This with the contests 
when Lyman Trumbull and Juilge David Davis 
were elected and the Logan-Morrison one form 
the four n(jtable Senatorial fights in the recent 
history of Illinois. 

Then came the Democratic National conven- 
tion of 1896, and Senator Palmer, like maity 
other Democrats, found himself outside of his 
party. He and they organized the National 
Democratic convention of Indianapolis that year 
in consequence and started the "Gold Demo- 
crat ic'' movement. It was a remarkable gather- 
ing. The sight of men like the late Roswell 
Flower, of New York, walking from the depot 
to the hotel on a hot day behind a brass band 
and at the head of a marching chib was of itself 
a new thing in politics, but Senator Palmer was 
easily the central figure of the gathering. 

He was then 79 years of age, an age when 
most men who may have lived that long give 
up active work, but the tremendous vitality and 
great jjhysicial strength of this man was still 
with him, and when he walked into the rotunda 
of an Indianapolis hotel one afternoon of a day 
SO' hot that }-oung and active men were pros- 
trated, dropjied a couple of hea\-y grips upon 
the fioor, and called for a room in a voice w-hiclr 
could be heard out on the sidewalk, no one who 
did not know him would have guessed he was a 
day over 50. The next day, when he was being 
urged to accept the nomination for the presi- 
dency, he gave, among other reasons for declin- 
ing, the statement: "Aly term in the senate 
expires next spring, and I want to go back to 
Springfield to build up my law practice." 

General ]\-ilmer advocated the nomination of 
General Bragg of Wisconsin for the presidency 
by this con\-ention, but the convention itself tot.ik 
anothei' \iew of the case and nominated him in- 
stead. That evening a reporter for a New York 



568 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



newspaper was talking in front of the hotel at 
which the nominee was stopping with a reixjrter 
from Chicago, and objected to the selection on 
the ground General Palmer was too old a man 
to make a campaigii. He was reminded of the 
saying that a man is as old only as he feels, and 
just then a marching club from Montgomery, 
Ala., with a brass band at the head, came up to 
serenade the nominees. General; Palmer and 
Buckner were called out on tlie jjalcony, and the 
former, after looking down on the crowd which 
had assembled, said, in a voice which could have 
been heard at the soldiers' monument, two blocks 
away : 

"My Fellow-Citizens: According to tlie eti- 
quette of [jolitics neither General ISuckner nnr 
myself are supposed tO' know anything about 
what was dcnic by the convention this afternoon. 
We are supposed ti> be kept in ignnrance of its 
proceedings until a proper cnmmiltce df its mem- 
bers, duly selected, waits on us and formally 
notifies us of our nomination. Hence, it would 
be the height of political impropriety for either 
of us to say anxthing on this occasion. I may, 
however, be allmved to remark that General 



Buckner and myself find ourselves a great deal 
in the. same position we were at the time of the 
BlackJiawk war. They first drafted us, and then 
alhjwed us to volunteer." 

For the last four years of his life General 
Palmer lived quietly at Springfield practicing 
law. Two years before lie died, however, his 
magnificent health tailed him, and lie had to stn]) 
work. He had never been a moneymaking man, 
and Congress offered hinii a pension of $ioo a 
ninnth. He declared that was more than he 
needed, but he would accept $50, and he lived on 
that ever after. 

(jeneral Palmer left a widow and the fol- 
lowing children 1)\' a former wife: Mrs. Jessie 
Palmer Webber, who is librarian of the State 
Historical Library; Mrs. Matthews, living at 
Carlinville; Mrs. E. C. Crabbee, Mrs. William 
Jayne, Lewis Palmer, all of this city; John Mayo 
Palmer, of Chicago. A grandson, John M. 
rainier, Jr., is in the regular anm- serving in the 
Philippines. 

General John M. Palmer died at his residence 
in Springfield, Illinois, Tuesday, September 25, 
1900, being eighty-three years of age. 



JOHN W. DUNTLEY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



John W. Duiitley, president of the Chicago 
Pneumatic Tool Company, and its organizer and 
foumler, stands prominent lamong the men oi 
the west whose success has been based upon ex- 
perience. 

This company was the pioneer in the applica- 
tion of compressed air to various appliances de- 
signed to take the place of the hand tools for- 
merly used. Though still a young man, Mr. 
Duntley has attained a life's success. He had his 
first experience in practical Inisiness as a foundn'- 
man at Northville, Michigan, where he spent his 
boyhood, shifting from there to Detroit, Milwau- 



kee ;uid Chicago as each opportunity for ad\-ance- 
mcnt presented itself. Graduating from the 
superintendency of one of the largest foundries 
in Chicago, Mr. Duntley entered the railway sup- 
])ly business, and for many years was recognized 
as one of the most successful salesmen in that 
line, representing during that time many leatling 
houses, notably the American Steel Casting Com- 
pany, the largest of its kind in the United States, 
the St. Louis Steel Foundry, National .Machinery 
Company and like concerns. 

It was during this period that he formed the 
acquaintance of i\Ir. Joseph Boyer, of St. Louis, 



^**v 




^/^Q). 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



571 



a mechanical g'enius oi extrai)nliiiar\- ul)ilit_\'. 
Mr. Buyer had iiu'cntcd a railway speed recorder 
and a cianiHilini;' machine which were cunsidereil 
marvels of ins^enuitv. lie had also an idea i>\ 
a])plyinf4' compressed air lo' a hammer for the 
purposes for which o,rdinary hammers were used 
in manufacturiu,!:;" ])]ants, in foundries for cliip- 
])iny iron, in holler shops for riveting and calk- 
ing, in stone _\ards for stone cutting. Mr. Dunt- 
ley, with his keen perception of merit, foresaw 
the i)ossiljilities of this small beginning and inter- 
ested himself in the sale of the Buyer hammer. 
With his [lersonal standing as a foundation and 
his indomitable push and selling ability, he sotMi 
demonstrated that the pneumatic hammer was 
not only a mechanical possibility but a commer- 
cial necessity. In the course of a year he had 
blazed the path so' clearly that he could see his 
way to a greater application of this wonderful 
power ti> mechanical purposes, and at about this 
time he organized the Chicago Pneumatic Tool 
Company, with a capital of sixty thousand dol- 
lars. Xe\er tiring' in his zeal, he pushetl ahead 
until at the present time his comp-an_\' is capital- 
ized at one million dollars. The Xew Taite- 
Howard Pneumatic Tool Comiiany was or- 
ganized in Europe with a capital of five hundred 
and fiflv thousand dollars. Other foreign con- 
nections were made on a very broad basis, vmtil 
now the current annoimcement of the company 
that "Chicago pneumatic tools are used all over 
the world," the e"atch-line of the company's pres- 
f enl acKertisement, is literally true. It may lie 
said that no representative sliip-^ard, railroad 
shop or manufacturing plant is with.out theiu. 

From the nucleus of the hammer the line has 
been extended until it now includes almi_)st e\'ery 
ciMiceivable sort of tool formerly o|)erated by 
ha.nd. In fact, there is scarcely a line of work in 
foundry, machine shop or .ship-yard to which 
some of the ajipliances of this company are not 
adapted. 

Every year sees such an immense increase in 



the business of the conijiany that the plans for the 
erilargenient of the various plants in anticipation 
o| orders made the year [)re\-ious are entirely 
outstripped, and the greatest (lilificult\- encoun- 
tcTed by the company is the proni])t filling of 
o.rdcrs. Heretofore the main factory has lieen 
at St. Li uis, still under the direction of Mr. 
Boyer, and the main eastern jilant at Olnev. a 
suburlj of Philadelphia, where the plants of the 
Ohiey Metal Co>mpany, National Pneumatic Tool 
Company and the W^bitelaw Company, formerly 
of St. Louis, ha\-e been consolidated into one 
plant. The factory at Detroit is the largest and 
finest machine shop for the manufacture of small 
tools in America, but even now it is feared that 
an enlargement of this great concern must l>e 
made to meet the requirements of the company. 

The company now have offices at Xew \ Hrk, 
Boston, Pittsburg, Cleveland, San Francisco, 
Houston, St. Louis, Detroit and Pbiladelphia, 
and also in London, Glasgow, Berlin, Paris, 
Brussels, \'ienna, St. Petersburg and Stock- 
holm. 

During one of Mr. Duntley's visits to Europe, 
at least two of wbich he makes annually, the Em- 
peror of Germany was so much interested in the 
operation of these tools at the German na\y yard 
tbiat he de\'oted the larger portion of a day to 
their inspection and operated the tools with his 
o\\ n hands. All through the countries of Europe 
the same interest is taken in these wonderful 
tools by the public offices. The company made 
two separate and distinct exhibits at the Paris 
E.xhibition in 1900, eclipsing anything attempted 
in a similar line. 

In addition to the presidency of the Chicagi> 
Pneumatic Tool Company and the Xew Taite- 
Howard I'neuniatic Tool Company, Mr. Dunt- 
ley is also president of the New York Air Com- 
])ressor Compan_\-, New York, and vice-president 
and director of the Franklin Compressor Com- 
pa.ny, Franklin, Pennsylvania. He is still a 
\dung man, under fort\- \ears of age, ambitious. 



27 



572 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



full of energy, and it is evident tu the most casual 
observer that his career lias just begun. With 
his domestic and foreign prestige, the many 
friends he has made both at home and abroad, 
his genial manner and impressi\e ])resence, he 
has a glorinusly successful future befure him. 
^Ir. Duntley has just succeeded, after two 
months' negotiation in consolidating the pneu- 
matic tool manufacturers of the United States 
and Great Britain, combining their interests, and 
ninety-five per cent, of the pneumatic tools will 
be made by the new cimipany. The deal was 
carried out in London in June, 1902. wlien the 
Chicago I^neumatic Tool Company and the 
Standard Tneumatic Tool Company of Chicago 
arid London were consolidatetl. The Standard 



Companv gives way to the Chicago Pneumatic 
Tool Comiiany. and the officers of tiie fonner 
concern will h-old high otifices in the community 
of interests, while the officers of the latter com- 
pany will retain their executive positions in the 
new corporation. 

Other firms in the combine besides the two 
mentioned are : The Tate Howard Company of 
London : I'ranklin Air Compressor Company of 
Franklin, Pennsylvania: Boyer Machine Com- 
panv, Detroit: Chisholm & ]\biore Machine Com- 
panv, Pneumatic Crane Company, Cleveland, 
Ohio; International Tool Company of London. 
The pneumatic riveter for heavy shipbuilding 
ar.d the drills for coal mining are among the im- 
portant tools maile In- the corporation. 



HON. CLAYTON EDWARD CRAFTS 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Hon. Clayton Edward Crafts, senior member 
of the well-known law firm of Crafts & Stevens, 
was born in Auburn, Ohio, July 8, 1848. He is 
descended from one of the oldest colonial fam- 
ilies, embracing a long list of soldiers and pio- 
neers — his great-grandfather, Edward Crafts. 
having fought in the Revolution, anil his grand- 
father, William Crafts, having been the first 
white settler in the county in Ohio where he 
lixed. and where Mr. Crafts' father, Edward, 
was born. 

At si.xteen Clayttni E. entered the Eclectic 
Institute of Hiram, later known as Hiram Col- 
lege, of which James A. ( iarficld was at one time 
president. Ill health comiielled him to give up 
his studies, but a year later he entered the Ohio 
State and Cnion College of Law, at Cleveland, 
Ohio, from which he graduated, with honors, in 
1868. He passed his examination for admittance 
to the bar before the supreme court of that state 
soon ;iftcr, and in the fall of that vear went to 



Walkins, New York, when he entered into the 
practice of law with Judge John J. \'an Allen. 
A year later he located in Chicago and became 
associated with Henry Lincoln, under the firm 
name of Lincoln & Crafts. This partnership 
continued until 1873, and from that time until 
1885 he ])racticed alone. In the last named year 
he united his practice with George M. Stevens, 
under the firm name of Crafts & Stevens. This 
partnership still continues, and engages for the 
most part in corporation and real-estate law. 
Although handling a considerable business of a 
general nature. 

Mr. Crafts has been prominently befi>re the 
])ublic for many years not only as a lawyer of 
exceptional ability but as a meml>er of the state 
legislature. He was elected a member of the 
house of repre.sentati\-es from the se\-enth dis- 
trict in 1883 and served for seven consecutive 
terms, being speaker of the liou.se in 1891 and 
1893, and the acknowledged Democratic leader 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



575 



ot tliat body fniiii JS87 until his retirement fnmi 
politics in 1895. IJuriui;- this time his party won 
its only victories in tlic state since the C'ixil war, 
a c<indition brous^iit ahcait h\- .Mi". Crafts' stantl 
lor tlie nomination of (ien. (olm Ai. I'ahiier for 
United States senator, the ad\isahiht\- of whicli 
lie first suggested in an interview with an Inter 
Ocean reporter chn-ing tlie state fair at Peoria in 
the fall of 1889, the sentiment spreading rapidly 
through the state for its publication. In the ses- 
sion of 1891 he ncjt onlv successfnllv managed 
the election of Senator Palmer but so manipu- 
lated the proposed leg"islation on compulsory 
education as to prevent a Republican measure 
from going thnnigh, thus keeping it an issue in 
llie campaign of 1892, and l)y this means secur- 
ing the anti-cumpulsory school vote for the 
Democrats in tliat vear, and in the following year 



securing the pas.sage of a law satisfactory to all. 
Personally Mr. Crafts is of a social and .gen- 
i;U disposition, an<l takes an interest in many 
organizations of a fraternal nature. He is a 
member of the Royal .\rcanum, the Royal 
League and of the Masonic order, and is also 
associated with the Oak Club of Austin. 

He was married Septeniljer 15, 1869, to M'liss 
Cora Cordelia E. Kent, daughter of 0.scar M. 
and Charity Kent, O'f Aurora, Illinois. Tliey 
have had four children: William C, residing 
and practicing law at Denver, Colorado; Fre<I 
.\., who died at the age of seventeen ; Helen, mar- 
ried to Mr. F. W^ Job; and Harry K., a student 
in the University of Michigan. 

November 6, 1900, Mr. Crafts was again 
elected a member of the Illinois house of repre- 
sentatives from the se\-enth district. 



HON. CHARLES WARREN FAIRBANKS 



INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 



Charles Warren Fairbanks, the senior senator 
from Indiana, was bm-n on a farm near Union- 
\-ille Center, Union county, Ohio, IMay 11, 
1852, and is the son of Loriston M. I-'airbanks. 
He was educated at the Ohii> Wesleyaui Univer- 
sity, Delaware, Ohio, graduating 
in 1872, and was admitted tO' the 
bar liy the supreme court of Ohio 
in 1874. He commenced the 
practice of his profession the 
same year in Indianapolis, where 
he has since resided. He was 
elected a trustee of the Ohio 
Weslcyan Universit}- in 1S85: 
was chairman of the Indiana Re- 
publican state conventions in 1892 and 1898; 
was unanimously chosen as the nominee of the 
K'epnblican jiarfv for United States senator in the 
Indiana legislature in i8()3. and received the en- 




tire jjarty vote Iiut was defeated by David Tur- 
pie, Democrat. He was elected to the United 
States senate January 20, 1897, this being his 
first puljlic ofhce. He was delegate at large to 
the Republican national con\'ention at St. Louis 
in 1896, and was temporary chairman of the con- 
vention. He was delegate at large to* the Rqxib- 
licau national con\ention at Philadel])hia in 1900, 
ar;d as chairman of the committee on resiilntions 
reported the platform. He was a])[)ointed a 
member of the United States and British joint 
high commission which met in Quebec in i8<)8 
for the adjustment of Canadian (|uestions, and 
was chairman of the United States high conuuis- 
sioners. He is a member of the McKinley me- 
morial conunittee and president oi the Benjamin 
Harrison memorial committee. In religious mat- 
ters he is a Methodist, being a member and trus- 
tee of the Meridian Street Methodist Episco])al 



576 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



clnirch of Indianapolis. Senator Fairbanks is He was married, in 1874, to Miss Cornelia 

one of the great statesmen of the coimtry and a Cole, of Marysville, Ohio, danghter of Jiulgo 



coming man in the nation. 



Cole O'f that place. 



ADELBERT H. TAGERT, M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Dr. Tagert is justly proud uf his descent, 
which he traces direct from the Douglasses, O'f 
Scotland, through his maternal ancestors. His 
grandmother was of this historic 1>ranoh. After 
h.er marriage to his grandfather, who was a pros- 
perous gentleuran farmer and stock raiser, the 
family emigrated to America, locating in Ver- 
mont at a very early day. Here he followed the 
same occupation, and became one of the pioneers 
of the Blue Mountain state in the raising of tine 
sheep. Dr. Tagert's immediate ancestors were 
natives of Venuont. He is the son of Dr. Flugh 
Tagert, a prominent [ihysician of Vermont, and 
Lucy A. Tagert, and was born in Hinesburg, 
\'ermont, October 2, ii>4^. He attended school 
in his native place until fourteen years of age 
and then with his parents removed to Shelburne, 
where he entered the academy of that town, and 
also worked upon his uncle's farm while not in 
school, lie was ipiite fond of mathematics and 
mechanics, and later studied medicine and took a 
great interest in surgery. He was only seventeen 
years of age when he matriculated in the medi- 
cal department o>f the University of Vermont, 
t;d<ing his degree as doctor of medicine in 1866. 
He then studied drugs and their preparation in 
a dnig store for a year to better i)erfect himself 
for his profession, and for the two succeeding 
years taught school in Shelburne and Ferrisburg, 
X'crmont. and then went to Buffalo, Xew York, 
to assist Dr. Joseph C. Greene in his extensive 
practice. Because of Dr. Greene's failing health 
it was not long l)efore he began casting many of 



his burdens on the \oung' man's shonldcrs, and it 
was while thus busily engaged that Dr. Tagert 
met Dr. Miner, then a leading" surgeon of Buf- 
falo. 

Dr. Tagert jiracticed in Buffalo until 1873, 
when he located in Chicago. In 1874 he was 
connected with the Free Dispensary of the Rush 
Medical College, where his practical knowledge 
of drugs was of great value to him. He contin- 
ued in this connection for many years, and also 
acted as surgeon for the Chicago, Milwaukee & 
St. Paul Railroad Company from 1875 to 1891, 
and besides attending faithfully to his increasing 
private practice. Seven months in 1888 and 
1S89 Dr. Tagert spent in the great Uni\-ersity of 
\'ienna, and returned to Chicago nnich benefited 
by this additional study and experience. Fie is 
now regarded as one of the most successful prac- 
titioners of Chicago, and is regarded as an edu- 
cator of abilit\- at tlie colleges, being practical 
as well as scholarly. 

Dr. Tagert is a member of the American 
Medical, Illinois Medical, the Chicago. J^Iedicai 
and the Chicago Pathological associations an'l 
societies. He has lieen connected with the He- 
brew Mission Dis])cnsarv, president of the Har- 
vard Medical College, (^rganized in 1892, and a 
night school of great importance of Chicago and 
thoroughly equipped with ample facilities for 
recitation, laboratory and dispensary work, be- 
sides furnishing instructi(in in the hospitals as 
well as regular evening clinics. Clinical in- 
struction is extended hi the Cook Countv Hos- 




^^.i^^^^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 579 

pilal, tlic Illiimis Cliaritaljle Eye and Juir Infirm- had six cliildrcn, four living-: lulia E.. wife of 

an- and oilier city hospitals. George Smith, merchant; Carrie M., wife of Ab.- 

May 5, 1S73, Dr. I'agert married Miss Mary liott Kay; May E. ; and Alice Tagert. 
IIar\cy, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Thev h.nve 



DAVID GILBERT HAMILTON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

David G. Hamilton, president of the Chi- Hamilton & Co., but this partnership was dis- 

cago City Railway Company, was Ijorn in Chi- solved in 1871 antl he continued thereafter alone. 

cago, January 10, 1842. His parents are About this time he became president, in the nature 

Polemus D. and Cynthia (Holmes) Ham- of a receiver of the AngIo-.\merican Land and 

illon. His education was began in pri\-ate Claiin Association, a corporation organized for 

schools, and, upon arriving at mature manhood, the colonization of lands in Te.xas, and also for 

he entered the Chicago High School from which tlie construction of railroads in that state. After 

he graduated in 1862. In the following Sepiem- successfully closing up the affairs of this company 

ber lie entered Asbury University, now known as his attention was again taken with local matters, 

DePauw University at Greencastle, Indiana. and he subsetpiently became quite an investor in 

from which he received his degree in 1865. He real estate, and identified witli many imp(.jrtant 

then returneil to Chicago, and took up the study financial undertakings. Tor some years he has 

of law in the law department of the University Ijeen actively engaged in the management and 

of Chicago, and following his graduation there, operation of street railwav properties, and has 

in 1S67, be opened a law office on the very spot had valuable experience in the l)uilding and 

where he 'was born, 126 South Clark street, and ecpiiping of some of the most important street 

continued the practice of liis profession at that railway enterprises in the country. When be be- 

location for nearly twenty years. His office was came interested in the Chicago City Railway 

destroyed by the great fire of 1871, but he re- Company in. 1885. it was comparitively insig- 

turned to his former place of business, a few nificant to what it is now. I'or years he de\'oted 

months later, on the completion of a new build- much of his time to its affairs, and was a director 

ing. In his law practice Mr. Hamilton's spe- during that important period of its bistorv. Jn 

cialty has been the examination of titles, and the company with other Chicago capitalists Mr. 

management of estates and trusts, a branch of Hamilton foriued the National Railway Company 

the profession for wdiich his careful and exact of Illinois, wln'cb has since jjrovcd such an im- 

business training fitted him. His advice in mat- ])ortant factor in the transportation affairs of 

ters pertaining to investments is considered es- St. Louis, Missouri. 

pecially valuable by ca])italists, and his experi- The object of this organization was to ac- 

cnce in organizing and conducting financial trans- (|uirc and ( pcrate street railwav properties. Mr. 

actions of magnitude has gained for him the con- Hamilton was elected a director at the time of 

fidence of investors in this class of property. In organization and the following vear was chosen 

1868 Mr. Hamilton associated himself with Gen- president. He continued at the head of the com- 

cral R. K. Swift, under the firm name of D. G. pany until January 25, 1899, when he relin- 



58o 



PROMlxXENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



quished control of the property. For some years 
the "Hamilton Syndicate." as it was called, en- 
gaged in the development of street railways in 
St. Louis. It absnrbed the Citizens Street Rail- 
wa}' Company, Cass A\cnue and Fair Ground 
Railway Company, with which the Xorthcrn 
Central Railway Company and the Union Rail- 
way Company were crmsolidated, tlie St. Louis 
Railroad Company, the Southwestern Railway 
Company, and the Baden and St. Louis Railwa}- 
Company. Rlr. Hamilton was president of each 
of these companies, as well as the National Com- 
pany, but he continued to reside in Chicago. The 
system controlled l)y the "Hamilton Syndicate" in 
St. Louis was extended and comi)letely relniilt, 
during Air. Hamilton's administration and the 
value of the ]jroperty increased c\'ery year. Re- 
cently Mr. Hamilton was induced to return to 
the directory (tf tlic Chicago' City Railway Com- 
pan\-. and he was elected second \ice-])resident at 
the January meeting in 1899. In Ajiril, 1899, 
at the death of President ^L K. Bowen. be was 



elected to the office he now holds. Aside from 
his professional work and his street railway in- 
terests Mr. Hamilttm has many important finan- 
cial connections. He is resilient director of the 
Union AIntual Life Insurance Com[)any, of 
Maine, director (if the Title & Trust Company, of 
Cb.ica.gi), director of the Farmers & Merchants 
National Bank of Texas, and he is interested in 
other [H'c pcrties and enterprises. He is a member 
of the Chicago Club, the L'nion League Club, 
and the Washington Park Club, but gives very 
little time to club matters, and has never taken 
an active part in their management or direction. 
He is a member of the board of trustees of the 
Uni\crsit\' of Chicago, and of Dc I^auw Uni- 
\ersity. In reli.gion he is a Baptist, and a member 
of the Immanuel Baptist church, with which he 
has been connected almost since its organization. 
He was married December 7, 1870, to Miss Mary 
Jane Kendall, daughter of Lyman Kendall, of 
Chicago. Two children bless their marriage. 
Bruce and Adelaide. 



AMZI WOOD STRONG 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Anizi Wood Strong, altorney-at-law, was 
Ik rn January 1, 186-I, in the town of Scipio, 
Cayuga county, New York, and is the son of 
riiilip Strong and Cornelia J. Strong, iicc Free- 
man. He attended the country district schools 
until twelve years of age, the 
Moravia Union School for two 
vcars, and then prepared for en- 
trance to Cornell L^nivcrsity at 
the Sherwood Select School, but 
decided to enter the Law Depart- 
ment in the University of Michi- 
gan in t886. and graduated in 
June. 1888, receivin.g the degree 
of LL. 15. 1 le came to Chicago in 




September of the same year, and accepted a po- 
sition in the law office of Swift, Campbell & 
Jones, remaining there four and a half years. 
He then entered into ])artnershiii with Mr. Will- 
iam Struckmann for the practice of law, the firm 
stvle being Strong & Struckmann. In Sentem- 
l)er, 1894, "Sir. Louis C. Ehle was admitted as a 
partner, and the firm became Strong, Struck- 
mann & Ehle. Mr. Strong is now practicin.g 
alone and tlevi ting his entire time to corporation, 
commercial, real estate and lianking law. He is 
tlie Chicago representative of Drexel & Com- 
pany, of Philadelphia, having entire charge of 
their large interests in Chicago. He also rq>re- 
sents other large eastern and local interests. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



581 



Mr. Strong is a nieml>er of the Marqtiettc nett Medical College in 1892, whicli ])osition lie 

Club and the Chicago luir Association; in poll- still holds. In 1893 he was elected a member of 

tics he is a Republican, and is liberal in his re- the board of trustees of that college, and has 

ligious \ie\vs. He was elected to the chair of served continuously on the board since that 

medical jurisprudence and insanity in the ISen- time. 



EDWARD W. CULLEN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

luhvard W". Cullen, lawyer, was born Janu- Chicago, and has practiced there since 1885, 
ary 3, 1862, in the township of Linn, Walworth devoting his energies to a general law prac- 




county. Wisconsin, and is a 
siin of Jiihn and ^L■lrv ( Mas- 
sey) Cullen. He was educat- 
ed at Har\ ard, Illinois, and at 
the L'iii\ersit)- of Michigan, 
at Ann Arbor, graduating' 



tice. 



Politically he is a Democrat, and active in 
the affairs of his party. 

Mr. Cullen was married Xoveniber 7, 1899. 
to Miss Catherine C. Touhy, of Rogers Park. 
Illinois, daughter of P. L. 'i^mhy and Catherine 
there, from the law ilepart- Rogers Touhy and granddaughter of Philip Rog- 
ment, in 1883; later came to ers, founder of Rogers Park. 



CHARLES C. ADSIT 

CH1CAG(J, ILL. 



'J"he family from which Mr. Adsit sprang 
has long been considered one of the prominent 
ones of this section of the state, and in the classi- 
fication of Chicago's financial and business in- 
terests the name will always occupy a notable 
place among the citizens of this city, as standing 
without reproacli among the first rank of dis- 
tinguished men of the state. 

Mr. Charles C. Adsit is one of the most prom- 
inent and influential members of the Chicago 
Stock Exchange and a native Ixirn Chicagoan. 
His birthplace was on the site of the old Inter 
Ocean' building and he was born July 14, 1855, 
being a son of the late James M. Adsit. Chicago's 
first banker, and who has so often been s]W)ken 
of as her first father of banking. Charles C. 



Adsit was reared in the atmosi)here of stocks, 
bonds and naoney, and was educated at the Chi- 
cag"0' University and in Cornell Unixersitv, and in 
1877 began his business career with the Mer- 
chants Loan & Trust Company. Later he be- 
came receiving teller of the Commercial National 
Bank. lie still later held the position of paying 
teller with the Northwestern National Bank. He 
entered into business f(.)r liimself as a dealer in 
stocks, bonds and investment securities in 1887, 
and in which he has met with a high degree of 
success, having gathered about him customers, 
man-v of them the wealthiest citizens of Chicago, 
who were his father's friends and business as.so- 
ciates. Mr. Adsit is one of the most active lirok- 
ers on the floor of the local exchange, and for 



582 PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 

years lias l)ecn a power of intUieiice in its affairs. Mr. Adsit is a nicinl>er of the Union and the 

He was a iiienil)er of its Iv.ard of directors for a Chicaon Chihs. He was married in iSqo to Miss 

a>nsideral)le period, and in iSi;7 was president of Mary 1! Asliby. of T,ouis\ illc, Kentucky, and 

the lK.iard. has a fanviiv of two children. 



JC311N FREDERIC EBERHART, A. M., LL D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

John iM-cderic h'.hcrhart, liftli ciiikl of Ahra- Salhi>t and iienHl(ktns. and tliat Icnn he had two 

ham and ICsther l-Iljerhart, was horn Jannary Ji, slndies more than were nsually taken. 

1827, in Hickory townsliip, Mercer count}', Duriuij' the time lie was so earnestl\- de\ elop- 

Peiins\l\ani.i. ;nid spent his Imyhocd nn his fa- inj; his mental powers he did not neglect his 

lher"s farm, in what was then a new settle- physical system, sip that he soon tjot to he (|nite 

inent. I lis father was one of the early settlers an ;uh]cte and gymnast, and was one of the two 

of Mercer ciunty. arrix-iiii^' there in iS_M. and of the three hundred and Iwenty-tivc students 

was the huildcr of the first sawmill in the wlio lifted a brass cannon in the arsenal at Mead- 

eount\. ville, I'ennsylvania, wei.^liinij- nine hundred 

At the age of eigfht vears he movetl with his i)oniuls. This was the cannnn presented to the 

parents to liis.;- Ford, on the .Mlcs^hany river, in state of Pennsylvania hy ( leneral La h'ayette. 

N'enango couiilv, Pennsvlvania, where he lived He could .also ontjnmp any nf the students antl 

and worked mi his father's farm, attending- .school outrun all hnt one. 

during the winters until sixteen years of age. At 'i'wo davs .after graduating he made the 

tl'.at age he taught his tirst schiiol at the month of Fourth of July onUion at Rocklanil, l'enns_\l- 

Oil creek, near Franklin, rennsylvania. for eight \;mi:i. ne;ir his home, to' about seven thousand 

dollars and a half per nu nth, and "Ixiardetl jieople, who were wild with delight at his school- 

1-,-und." hoy oratorical tlights. h"ew large assemblies 

.\fter attending school se\eral terms at Cot- were e\-er so pleased ;uid swayed as this one. 
t.-'.ge Hill Ac-idemv, h'llsworth, ( )hio, and teaching ( )n the lirst of Scpteniher next .after gradu- 
one winter at ■■.\nderson"s Mill'" and one winter aliug he entered upon his duties as jjrinciiial of 
in "Craig's District." in the home neighborhood. tlu- Albright Seminary, at ricrlin. SmncTset 
lie entered .\lleglianv College in the s])riiig of county, rennsylvania (afterward changed to a 
1S49 and graduated |ulv _'. 1S33. lie paid his college). It was the lirst institution of learning 
wav through college bv te.aclhpg penmanship and t'nuidcd by the Evangelical .\ssociation. and dm- 
other branches during the >pring and f;dl vaca- ing his .admiiiislnition llourislied beyond expecta- 
tions and mowing and cradling in the harvest ti.'n — having auKiig its puiiils such men as Rev. 
field during the summer vacation. H. W. Thoma<. now of the People's church m 

While at college he was very studious ;inil Chicago: Kc\ . William I'.. C.regg. of the Dela- 

ambitious. so that during his entire college course ware ciuference i^f the Metho(li>t h.piscopal 

he was never marked below the highe.st grade, ex- church: l\e\ . 1.. llornherger. of the F.ast Penn- 

cejjt one term in two studies in the classics, viz., syban'a conference, and Rev. Hall, of the Pitts- 





'=J(f4n,9^'S^t^^^J~- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



585 



burg conference nf tlic iMangelical Assdciatimi. 
witli many others who lia\e risen lo i)roniinence 
and usefuhicss in life. 

H'e had entered uix>n liis work with great zeal 
and enthusiasm, intending to make teaching a 
life work, but before the close of the second year 
he w'as forced to resign' on accoimt of failing 
health, as three leading physicians had given it 
as their opinion that he could not li\'e over six 
months. "This," he says, "was the greatest 
sacrifice of my life, to- gi\e up my cherished 
plans." But he ceased from all labor, and came 
west, arriving at Chicago' .April 15, 1855. After 
a short stay in the "muddy city" he went ti> 
Dixon, Illinois, where he siient tlic summer in 
outdoor exercises, such as fishing and hunting, as 
soon as he was strong enough to do so. This 
and the change of climate had a wonderful efTect 
on his health. 

During the time he was at Dixon he edited 
arid puljlisbcd the Dixon Transcript, but as it 
was a political paper it did not suit his taste, so 
he sold' it. 

He spent the following winter in delivering a 
course of ten popular and scientific lectures on 
chemistry, natural philosophy, meteorology and 
astronomy. He usually deli\ered these lectures 
before institutions of learning, illustrating with 
apparatus, etc., which made t'hem \'ery instructi\'e 
and popular. He next traxeled about a year in 
tlie interest of New \'ork publishers, Ix'ison & 
Phinney, and A. S. Barnes & Company, but as 
he had a desire for more distinctively educational 
life he piu'chased, ])ul)lished and edited the North- 
western Home and School JoiuMial (jf Chicago 
for three years. During these three years he 
spent much time in lecturing before "teachers' 
irslitutes." and frc(|uentlv conducting them, lie 
lectured niostlx' in the state of Illinois and Iowa, 
and was also employed by Hon. Henry Barnard, 
chancellor of the Wisconsin State University, to 
hold institutes in that state. This kind of work 
he enjoyed and \alued greatly l>ecause it not only 



ga\'e him a general knowledge of the educational 
work of the country but brought him in contact 
with the great and indefatigable workers in the 
cause — even such men as b'lihu l^urritt and ilor- 
acc Mann. 

In the fall of iS^i; he was elected sujierintend- 
ent of the schools (»f Cook county, in which Chi- 
cago is situated, and continued in that office for 
ten consecutive years. The)- were ten years of 
hard work and much of it at that time but poorly 
understood and appreciated. The free schools 
had nc\er been under pniper supervision, and 
were in a neglected condition. To remedy this 
e\il he \'isited ex'cry school once a year at least 
and conferred with teachers and directors, and 
also organized "teachers" institutes," and in every 
p'o'ssible way tried to inspire interest aufl 
strengthen the cause. But finding it impossible 
to secure teachers fully fpialified. he commenced 
agitating and advocating the erection of a County 
Normal School. At first he met with but little 
encouragement from any source, but at the end 
of se\'eral \-ears the supervisors (if the county 
were induced to appropriate the necessarv funds, 
and the sclioul was ojjened in September, iSOj, 
at I'.lue Island, with thirty-twD' pupils and 1). S. 
\\'entwiirth as ])rinci])al. It was afterward 
moved to' Normal, where it continues to grow and 
jirosper. 

From l>oyhood up Professor Fberlr'art had 
been devoted to the cause of education, and noth- 
ing but failing health could ever ha\-e driven him 
from the school-room pro]ier, and even then be 
took refuge in a more dix'ersified and general 
work, such as editing educatiimal journals, con- 
ducting teachers' institutes, lecturing on educa- 
tional subjects, and filially 1)ecoming superintend- 
ent of schools. He always affiliated with asso- 
ciated eft'orts. He was among the first organiz- 
ers of the Illinois State Teachers' Association, 
and attended seventeen of its consecutive and an- 
tutal sessions. He also assisted in the establish- 
ment of the State Normal University, and the 



586 



PROMINENT MEN OE THE GREAT WEST 



construction and ])assag;e by the stale legislature 
of many amendments to the school laws of the 
state, including;- the rict authorizing counties to 
establish normal schools. 

He was the ])rinci])al mo\er in forming the 
Slate Association of Countv Superintendents, 
and the first president. He was also a member 
of the American Institute of Instruction, and 
was one of the first meml>ers of the National 
Teachers' Association. He was also associated 
with many other edncational and charital^le so- 
cieties having for their o1>ject the care and edu- 
cation of those who have not the wisdom and 
means to care for themselves. As president of 
the connt\' board of education, he was the means 
of introducing the kindergarten into the Cook 
Countv Normal School, and greatly aided in es- 
tablishing the free kindergarten schools in the 
city. 

At difTcrent limes he had offered to him very 
prominent edncational ])ositions, such as a pro- 
fessorship or president's chair in some f>f om^ 
l)est institutions of le;irning. but declined because 
he belicvcil his healtli would not endmx' that kind 
of a life. In Ins earlier years he had but little 
desire or expectation to make more money than 
to afford a comfortable living, with a little left 
to buy books, etc. Tie always had a great desire 
to travel and ]io])cd in some way toi accunudate 
enough tc gratifv his <lcsirc in later years, but as 
the salary of the educator does not furni.sh means 
for verv' extensive travel and exploration, he de- 
cided after twenty-five years of edncational effort 
to tiy his luck at making mone}-. and turned bis 
energies to real estate. .\nd in this direction he 
was quite successful, so that when the panic ot 
1873 fi'"-'^t touched the cnuntrv he considered him- 
self worth o\-cr one million dollars. It is true 
that it consisted mostly of nnn-]")roducti\'e prop- 
erty, and the shrinkage, taxes and failure of 
manv to pay his claims, reduced it fearfully dur- 
ing the five vears the panic brooded o\-er the land. 
But not discouraged, he started in again. i)rofit- 



ing by tlie lessons of the past, and was again very 
successful. His charily and sympathy can al- 
ways l>c enlisted in c\ery wortln- effort looking 
toward the amelioration of the woes and l)urdens 
of humanit\- and the dissi])alion of ignorance 
and miserw 

In julv. H)0<). Mr. I'dierliart was honored by 
his alma mater, .\lleghany College, with the title 
LL. D. The action of the college in conferring 
this degree was enthusiastically receixed and 
shows the warm place Dr. Eberhart holds in the 
hearts of the students and alunnii as well. 

In politics yir. Eberhart was an early Repub- 
lican and hater of human slavery, and has c\'er 
taken an active interest in clean politics, with no 
personal desire for political honors. 

In religious belief be was bred a IMetliodist. 
but has always been a man of broad humanitarian 
views, and is now a prominent member of the 
People's church, whose pastor. Rew 11. W . 
Thomas, was formerly his pupil, and was by him 
first induced to take work in this city. \'ery 
naturall)-, they are close jiersonal friends. 

He was married on Christmas exening. iSf)4. 
to Miss Matilda Charity Miller, daughter of Jo- 
seph C. and Mercie H. Miller, of Chicago, and. 
as he puts it. "the best woman in the world." 
She was born .\pril 15. iS.^7. in Toronto, Can- 
ada, but emigrated to this country when she was 
one \car old. She receixed her education in 
.\urora and Ciiicago. finishing in Chicago high 
school. She afterward taught in the city schools. 
She is an accmniilished. generous woman, who is 
alwavs chcerfullv i)lanning for the comfort and 
education of her children, as well as for the ele- 
\-atioii and education of ]ioor "waifs" and orphan 
children, bv securing homes and free kinder- 
garten and other schoi:ls for them. 

Mr. Eberhart is a man of fine general culture, 
has a well-selected library, is a great student, a 
good public speaker, an acute metaphysician and 
a strong debater, and there are few ])1iiloso]>hies. 
tlieories or activities in life that he has not stud- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



587 



ied and has not formed matured \ie\\s upon. for advice; and lie easily receives tlie respect and 

He is, witlial, and extensive home traveler, inmler confidence of all who kno-w him. He well de- 

and fisherman, and there are few places in North serves the title that has Ijeen a])plied to him, viz., 

America, cither wild or inhahitcd, that he has not "The Father of Cook Count}- Public Schools." 

\-isited and explored. For manv years he has de\oted almost all of 

In his business and social intercourse he is his time to' the interests of the schools of Co(jk 

genial and cordial in his manners; and his sin- count}-, and their ]irosperons and nourishing- 

cerity, kindness and uniform courtesy ha\-e en- condition to-da}- is largely due to his early 

cleared him tu his friends, who often seek him eft'orts. 



AMOS JOSEPH HARDING 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




Amos Joseph Harding", underwriter and 
western manager of the Springfield Fire and 
Marine Insurance Conipany, was born in Mor- 
row count\-. Ohio, Mav 2, 1839, and is a son of 
('haunc\- Commodore Harding, born in Clifton, 
Pennsylvania, January 14, iSoy, 
and Rachel (Story) Harding. 
He is a descendant of John 
Harding, who emigrated from 
England in i'')23, and settled at 
Weymouth, Massachusetts, later 
^ V ji>ining Roger Williams at Provi- 

^ ^^ dence. Rhode Island, where he 
became prominent in the Baptist 
church. His great-grandfather, 
Al)rahani Harding, moved to Orange county. 
New York, and from there to the Wyoming \-al- 
ley, Pennsyh-ania. His son, Amos, settled at 
Clifford, Susquehanna county, I'ennsylvania, in 
1800, mo\-ing to what is now Mrjrrow count\-, 
(^l.ii), in 1817. and was the father of Chauncy 
Commodore Harding. Mr. Harding's mother, 
Rachel Story, was descended fn)m William 
Story, who emigrated from N'orwich. Norfolk 
countv, I'.ngland. in I'l^S, and settled at Ipswich, 
Massachusetts. Her grandfather, Jose])h Story, 
moved from Essex county to' Oxford county, 
Maine, late in life, and died there in i8_'6. Her 



father, Nelien-iiah .Story, born at Piillerica, Essex 
count}-, Massachusetts, in 17S2. was niarried to 
k:ichel, daug'hter of William Low. of Hopkin- 
ton. New Hampshire, in 1801. 

Amos Joseph Harding was educated at (Jhio 
Central College; when se\-enteen }ears old he left 
college and taught school for some months, and 
with a ca])ital of one hundred and forty dol- 
lars went to Nebraska City, Nebraska, taking 
twelve da\-s to make the trip and arriving there 
Ajiril 28, 1857. He had no business or profes- 
sional training Iieyond cutting wood at fifty cents 
],ier cord, with which to Ijuy b(X)ks and later clerk- 
ing in a store fi>r Hall & Baker. He studied law , 
but has never jiracticcd. I"i r four summers he 
was engaged chiefly as a surveyor of government 
lands. At the outbreak of the war he joined the 
First Nebraska \^)lunteers, and served two years 
as a ]M"ivate, he was then placed on detached 
serv-ice and transferred to St. Louis to the depart- 
ment of military justice. In May, 18^4, he was 
transferred by ])romotion to tlie Sixth Missi'uri 
Cavalry, with raiik of first lieutenant, and as- 
signed to duty as district jndge advocate on the 
slaff of General Clinton P>. Fisk and served until 
the close of the war, when he was lionorably 
nnistered out. During the time he served as .so 
licitor for freediiien's courts in the district of 



588 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Kentucky, Tennessee and nortli Aialiama, he es- 
tablislied at Xasliville the first cnurt ever held in 
Tennessee wherein tlie lilack man cnukl testify 
against the white. The principal hattlcs in which 
he was engaged were Furt Donelsnn. Shiloh and 
Cape (jirardeau. He was twice promoted and 
brevetted for gallant antl meritorious service dur- 
ing the war. 

Mr. Harding has huilt up nue of the most 
successful local agencies for fire and life insur- 
ance in the west. In 1868 he accepted a field 
position with the Home Insurance Company of 
New York, and continued with this company in 
connection with his local husiness for about four 
years. In 187 J he accepted the western special 
agency of the Phieni.x. of Brooklyn. During 
the four years he remained with this company 
its business increased o\cr fnur hundred per 
cent, in his territorw with a loss ratio of not 
exceeding' forty per cent. Later he became west- 
ern manager of the Springfield Fire and ^Marine 
Ir.surance Company. The wonderful growth of 
this company under Mr. Harding's management 
has been ])henominal. As an underwriter he is 
conservative, aggressive and a firm believer in 
organized co-o])eration. He was one of the 
founders of the Union of \\'estem Managers, or- 
ganized in 1879, and has been vice-president and 
president. He tmik a jjrnminent jKnrt in the po- 



litical affairs of his county and state while resid- 
ing in Nebraska and was a delegate to- every 
Republican state consention from 1867 to 1875. 
He was jiresident of the State Snldicrs' and Sail- 
ors" convention in 1868, delegate to the Repub- 
lican national con\'ention of that year, which 
nominated General Grant for the presidency, and 
commissioner of registration, 1868 to 1871. He 
was a luember of the grand lodge of the Order 
of Good Templars in both states, also a repre- 
sentati\-e from Nebraska to the grand lodge of 
North America in Alay, 1867. at Richmond, In- 
diana, and Baltimore, in 1872. He is a member 
0+ the A. F. & A. M., the Military Order of the 
Loyal Legion, a life meml)er of the Society o'f 
the Army of the Tennessee, of which he has been 
vice-]3resident : a memlier of the Geo. H. Tliomas 
Post, G. A. R. : the Illinois Society of the Sons 
of American Revolution: a Knight Templar, and 
a memlier of the Union League Clul). 

Politicallv i\Ir. Harding was a Whig, cast- 
ing his first \-ote for Mr. Linculn. and has been a 
Republican ever since. 

Mr. Harding was married at St. Joseph, 
Missnuri. Niivember jo, 1864, to Miss Eliza 
Helen, daughter of James H. and ^largaret 
(Wallace) Cowden. They have fi\e children: 
Lucien F., Albert D.. Rachel II., Jolm C, and 
Dwight S. 



JOHN J. COBURN 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



Jiihn J. Ciiburn was biTu March 14, 1801, in 
the town of Cicero, where ihe village of Clyde is 
now situated. 

His father, Henry Cuburn, was born in the 
County of Wexford, Ireland, and his muther, 
Elizabeth Chittick, was a native of Enniskillen, 
Ireland. They were married at \\'illiamsburg, 
Canada, and remove<l to Illinois in 1849. His Summit, so called, where, on December 9, 1896, 



father was ;i m;in of great natural aliility. thrifty, 
aggressi\-e, of lirm co^nvictions, logical, true to 
his friends and fearless of enemies. His mother 
was a woman who loved Immc, and made the 
house a home for her husband and their chihlren. 
When Jiibn was one year old his father re- 
mo\-ed to a farm in the town of Lyons, near 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



591 



he clied belmcd and respected by all who knew 
him. 

John J. Cnliurn received his early educatinn 
in the public schnds of the town of Lyons and 
graduateil from the Eiiglewood high school ni 
the class of 1H77, haxing completed a classical 
ciin-se in the latter institution. From 1878 to 
1 88 1 he taught school in the school house which 
he attended as a boy. He entered Union College 
of Law in the class of 1883, being a classmate 
of William Jennings Bryan. He did not wait, 
however, to graduate with his class, but took an 
examination for admission to the bar, and was 
admitted to practice before the supreme court 
in 188.5. Since his admission tO' the bar his law- 
practice has been a general one, comprising 
nearly ever\' branch of the law. He has built 
up and enjoys a \-ery large practice, the result of 
his unaided efforts and genius. He is peculiarly 
successful as a trial advocate, and as such has a 
very high standing at the bar of Chicago as a 



trial lawyer. He is a kind-hearted, generous, so- 
cial gentleman, (piick of comi)rehension, true to 
his friends, true to his clients, ever responsive to 
.■i.ny call for (lescr\ing charity, but wdth a bitter 
hatred of shams and a most unsparing rmd 
withering sarcasm for his enemies; in fact, John 
J. Coburn as a man and ,-is rm ad\-ocale has no 
superior, and but few equals, at the Ijar of Cook 
county. The writer of diis, one of the oldest 
members ijf the Chicago bar, has known him for 
)-ears, ami for years has watched his career and 
ne\er knew him '"weighed in the Ijalance and 
found wanting." In politics he is a Democrat, 
and has manifested considerable interest in nearly 
e\ery political campaign, being much in demand 
as a campaign speaker. 

Mr. Coburn was married ]\Iay i, 1890, to 
Miss Annie M. Valentine, of Chicago. The)"- 
have three bright children : Elizabeth M., Archi- 
bald T. and Edith M. They reside at Douglas 
Park in the city of Chicago. 



HON. ROBERT ROBERTS HITT, M. C. 

MOUNT MORRIS, ILL. 



Robert R. Hitt, the well-known statesman 
and member of congress from the ninth district 
of the state of Illinois, has been a member of the 
house of representati\-es since December, 1882, 
and during that time has served on many im- 
portant committees. He stands 
high in the house, where his 
earnestness, force of manner and 
fearless devotion to the interests 
of his party and state has made 
him a jxiwer among his fellow* 
members and causes him to be 
looked upon as one of the leading 
members of that body. 

Robert R. Llitt was born at 




L'rbana, Ohio, January 16, 1834, and is a son of 
Thomas Smith and lunily (John) Hitt. His 
parents removed to Mount Morris, Illinois, in 
1837, where Robert received his early education 
at the public schools, and later he entered the Rock 
Ri\'er Seminary, now Moiuit ^Morris College, and 
then supplemente<l by a coin'se at De Pauw L'ni- 
versity of Indiana. His first business venture 
of note was that of shorthand reporting of the 
Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1858. He was first 
secretary of legation at Paris from 1874 to 1881 : 
assistant secretary of state. 1881 : was elected to 
the forty-seventh congress November 7. t88j: 
was re-elected to the forty-eighth, forty-ninth, 
fiftieth, fifty-first, fiftj'-second, fifty-third, fifty- 



592 PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 

lourtli, fiftv-fifth, fiftv-sixth and hftv-seventli 



Mr. Hitt is a l\c|)ul)lican and o-jyes to his 
party iiis active, uii\\a\'eriiig, earnest and intelli- 
gent supptjrt. He has tra\eled extcnsi\cl\- hntli 



home and abroad, ha\Mng- visited Enrope, France, 
Tnrkey, etc. 

Mr. Ilitt wns nnited in marriage Octol^er 28, 
1S74. to Miss Sallie Reynolds, danghter of Will- 
iam !•". Reynolds, of La Fayette, Iniliana. 



JAMES HARTNETT 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



James Hartnett, junior member of the legal 
firm of Donahoe & Hartnett, was horn at (ialena, 
Illinois, January 23, 1862, being a son of Daniel 
and Catharine (Donahoe) Hartnett. 

His father, Daniel Hartnett, was born in 
Queenstown, Ireland, March 12, 1S22, being of 
Irish and French e.\tracti(.in. After spending 
some time in England and France he came to 
Quebec, Canada, remained some years, then 
spent five years in New York and then came to 
Chicago, and where he became a citizen of the 
United States. January 6, 1857, at Elgin, Illi- 
nois, he married Catharine Donahoe, daughter of 
William and Margaret Donahoe, and who was 



1x>rn in Boston August is. 183: 



.\ftcr mar- 



riage Mr. and Mrs. Harnett located in Missis- 
sippi until iSfiQ, \\ hen thev moved to' (ialena, 
Illinois. 

August 20, 1862, Daniel Hartnett tnlisted in 
the Ninetieth Illinois Volunteers and ser\ed 
through all the battles with that compan\- until 
honorabl)' discharged June 6, i8fi3. when he 
returned home, and died January 31, 187.}. 
He was never well .nfter his rcttu'n from the 
war. 

James Hartnett began teaching school at the 
age ()f nineteen at Moline. Illinois, leaching there 
until 1889, when he took charge of the pul)lic 
scliools of Hem-y, Illinois, being abl\' assisted by 
a competent stafif of teachers. In the meantime 
he read law, principally at night and in \-acations, 
in the office of Hon. Fred S. Potter, removing 10 



Chicago Septemlicr, 189 1, and was admitted to 
the bar in Chicago in September, 1892. 

September, 1893, Mr. Hartnett associated 
himself with ]\Ir. Daniel Donahoe and Judge 
Russell ^I. \\ ing, in the trial of a case of the 
People vs. Daniel Coughlin. Soon after this 
trial the partnership of Donahoe & Hartnett took 
eftect. Mr. Hartnett is a familiar figure at the 
bar and has represented some notable cases, and 
he and his partner are among the best-known law- 
yers in Chicago. 

Mr. Ilartnett's facility and power as a trial 
lawyer does credit tO' his persistent and sys- 
tematic efforts, and a few instances will serve 
to illustrate his strong qualifications. Before 
Judge Sears, in March, 1895, the genuineness oi 
three bills was in question. Mr. Hartnett 
claimed each of three bills were genuine twenty- 
dollar bills. It was a great trial, but he won out 
and proved his clients imiocent. The O'Brien case 
tried in the criminal court, in December, 1895, 
was another strong case won. .\ trial lawyer's 
work taxes the strongest powers and the greatest 
endurance to the utmost. Mr. Hartnett's aliility 
in that direction has been severely tested, lor in- 
stance the trial of People vs. Sampsen, et al.. 
tried in the criminal court l>efore Judge Ewing, 
one of the most important cases that ever came 
before court or jury — a case that so excited the 
activity of a jjolitical clul) as to bring it into na- 
tional prominence in generrd mo\ement for a 
higher niunici])al life and greater sacredness of 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



595 



the ballot. Air. llartnett, at the close of the ar- nine of his fellow men. The entire machinery of 

jjument for the pmsecution, an;se and addressed a great state was placed in the hands of a public 

a most intelligent jury. With the strong power prosecutor and a private council, and the great 

of a trained psychologist lie iiupressed upon engines were working against his clients. It was 

them tile great principles of the law of liberty. a powerful and e.xliaustive effort, enabling the 

aiid that the men I. n trial slmuld be acquitted. As jury to say that they had received hel]) where 

one of the two lawyers, he was fighting a great they needed it and that the defendants were not 

battle against fearful ndds and fur the liberty of guilty. 



HON. CHAMP CLARK 

BOWLING GREEN, MO. 



Hon. Champ Clark, member of congress from 
the ninth district of Mis.sonri, is a Democrat in 
politics and was burn March 7, 1850. in Ander- 
son county, Kentucky; educated in the common 
schools, Kentucky University, Bethany College, 
and Cincinnati Law School; 1873-74 was presi- 
dent of Marshall College, West Virginia ; worked 
as a hired farm hand, clerked in a country store, 
edited a country newspaiier, and practiced law ; 
was citv attnrnev of Louisiana and Bowling 



( jreen ; deput\- prosecuting attorney and prose- 
cuting attorney; presidential elector; delegate to 
Trans-Mississippi Congress at Denver; married 
Aliss Genevieve Beimett; has had four children 
born to him : Little Champ, Ann Hamilton, Ben- 
nett, and Genevieve, the two latter still living; 
was elected to the fifty-third, fifty-fifth, fifty- 
sixth and re-elected to the fifty-seventh con- 
gresses. 



DANIEL DONAHOE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

BY JAMES HARTNETT 

Inten.se as if the feelings and motives of a acter that led him to examine the princi- 
thousand years centered in his being is Daniel pies of lil)erty and justice; that led him 
Donahoe. This intensity came not from the en- 
vironments of his birth, for he was born on a 



farm in AlcHenry county, Illinois. This in- 
tensity came not from schools. 
f':r he was educated at the pub- 
lic schiiols. at Elgin Academy 
and at Xntre Dame Uni\ersitv. 




to meditate ui)on the words of the noblest 
of men, and not only to meditate upnn 
their words, but to dwell among their thoughts 
and feelings. i(j the end that thev became 
an intrinsic and essential part nf himself. 
Such tpiality compels him. with his strong consti- 
tution and giant-like intellect, to take uj) the 



This intensity came as an honest cause of his fellow man. and to carrv it ti> its 

heritage from J<^hn Donahoe and just ci inclusion. Such cause lie carries a day, a 

Johanna Donahoe, his parents, — week, a niDiith, a year, — he has carried .such, 

parents of Celtic Blood and birili. when necessarv, for \ears. 

It is this element in his char- The nali\e elements in Daniel Donahoe were 



596 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



-such as to cumpel him to peruse and practice the l)c otiierwise tlian that he should lie identified 

principles and profession of law. Fur more than with the greatest cases and causes, and so it has 

twenty years, in the heart uf Chicago, the dour lieen. Together with liis associate. ]a.mes Hart- 

of 'lis (iffice has heen open tn the fortunate and nett, he lias U>r nn-.re than eight vears cuniiucted 

unfortunate alike. For more than twenty years an imi)orlar,t practice in the state and federal 

they have intrusted him with their property, their courts. 

confidence, their liherty and their lives. Jt is well said of him that he lives for his 

With the native elements uf an orator and a wife, for his hoys and for the good that he does 

lawver, and with vears of industry, it could not and may do. 



PHILIP DANFORTH ARMOUR 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



We all know what pioneer conditions will 
pr(.>duce, hut how few have lieen ahle to' survixe 
success and build ui) and on to< still greater 
achie\ements ! One of these few was I'hilip 
Danforth Armour, deceased, whose eventful ca- 
reer was a remarkable blending of industi"y, per- 
severance in the face of trying obstacles, roman- 
tic adventin-es antl unostentatious philosophy. In 
few l)iograi)hies is there recorded a life service 
sc long continued and so \aried. He was suc- 
cessively a sturdy son of a farmer, a clerk, a 
gold-himter in California in 185S, a packer in 
1863, and iin moving to Chicago he was, for 
twenty-ll\'e years, one of her most ijhilanthropic 
citizens, contributing energeticall\- to the (le\elop- 
ment of her mighty resoiu'ces, and up to the time 
when he departed this life he had stamped him- 
self a i)re-emincntly successful man, uni\ersally 
r(S])cclcd bv his telli>w men nnt only as a worthy 
and U])right citizen, but as a benefactor of man- 
kind. 

-Mr. Armour was of Scotch-Irish ilescent (^the 
son of Danforth and Juliana Brtxiks Armour), 
born at Sti ckbridge, Madison county. New \'ork. 
May iC), 1S32. The parents, who were farmers, 
ga\'e their family, six Ijoys and twi> girls, all the 
educational ad\antages within their reach, and 



rm admirable training lo enalile them to success- 
fully face a busy world. Many anecdotes are 
told cif Philip's Ixiyish pranks while attending 
a neighboring village seminary, in which he was 
a g'eneral leader in everything which required 
dash and courage. 

During the winter of 185 1-2, the opportunity 
])resenting itself to get out into the world, Mr. 
.\rmour was one of a small part_\- of friends who 
had been seized with the then prevailing gold 
fe\er, and in the early spring (1852) this band 
of x'oung pioneers began the long overland jour- 
ney to California, requiring a period of six 
months, during which they had to encounter and 
o\-erconie the e.\traordinar_\- pri\-ations and bard- 
sh.ips and danger which characterized traveling 
across the plain and mountains from St. Josq>h, 
Missouri, and which obstacles lined the pathway 
to the Coldeu state with the graves of many 
sturdy pioneers. P.ut yoimg Armour, firm 
courageous and resolute, bravely faced every ob- 
stacle attendant upon the long journey, and with 
all of his companions reached the goal of his 
hopes. 

After a \aricd exjicrience in mining enter- 
]5rise, ^Ir. Armour returned to the Fast in 1S56, 
bringing with him, it was believed, a goodly 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WESF 



597 



aniDunt of o-nld-dust as a result nf his \cnlure. 
Jlut lie (lid 111 it liiuii I'eiiiain at hoiiK'. llic slurdi- 
ness of character which he had developed, and 
wT.icIi seemed tn ha\e heen Imrn of the hardsliijjs 
and |iri\atinns nf the ]>iiineer life he had ex])e- 
neneed, iinluced him aL;'ain to \isit the then wild 
west; and this tinie he Inrated in Milwaukee, 
W'iscoiism, where he tnrmed a partnership with 
Frederic B. Miles in the commissinn business. 
He was connected with Mr. Miles until i<S63, 
when ^Ir. Armour became associated with John 
Plankinton in the p<.irk and packing- industry, and 
ir. this successful connection bis genial disposi- 
tion and admirable business qualifications 
brought him prominently before the mercantile 
wiirld. 'J'his \enture was probably the turning 
point in Mr. .Armour's career. His partner, Mr. 
Plankinton, had for many years been connected 
with Frederick Layton, one of Milwaukee's pio- 
neer residents, who not only stood big'h socially 
ar.d commanded the respect of the residents of 
that city, but had also' built up a business of no 
small magnitude. The partnership with Mr. 
Plankinton found a most gratifying success, and 
the high prices of jjnn-isions at the close of the 
Ci\'il war lirougbt io both members of the en- 
terjirising tnrm comfortable fortunes. 

I\Ir. Armour's brother, Herman O. .\rmoin', 
had established himself at Chicago in iH(>2 in 
the grain commission business, liut three years 
later he was induced to surrender his interest in 
that enterprise to a younger brother, Joseph F. 
.\rmour, while Herman proceeded to New \'ork 
to take charge of the interests of a new business 
lirni under the name of .\rmour, I'lankinton & 
Conii)any. The lirm name of II. O. .Armour & 
C"o'm[)an\ was, howexer, continued in (/hicago un- 
til 1870, and conducted a very successful grain 
and general commission business, commencing in 
connection therewith in 1868 the packing nf hogs. 
This part of the business was continued after 
1870, under the hrm name of .\rmour & Com- 
pany, which soon thereafter transacted all the 

28 



brsiness in that line in Chicago. In 1871, in or- 
d'_T to keep abreast of the demands of the market, 
the lirm ot I'lankinton iS: Companx was estab- 
lished at Kansas t'ity under the charge of an ildcr 
hrothei". Simeon I!, .\rmom-, and in 187^ l'hili|) 
Danfortli Arnioni- mcAcd to Chicago, where he 
became the eeiitral lignre of :ill ihc Aniionr In^;- 
ness htnises, and he continued to reside in (,'hi- 
cago until he dep.arted this life. 

The growth of the business of .\rmr,ur & 
Company has-been mar\elous in the e.\treme, 
tlieir establishment dning a Larger business than 
any firm (d' its kind in the wurld. I'hilip 1). .\r- 
moiur remained its active head until his demise, 
and always dictated the general policy o-f the con- 
cern. While ill the midst of his acti\-ities Mr. 
I'hilip I). .\nii< nr once im re turned his attention 
to the great west, and in Kansas City organized 
in 1879 the .\rniour iirothers Banking Company, 
installing as its president his brother, .Andrew 
Watson .\rniom", who conducted the affairs of 
the institution with such skill and integrit\- that 
it soon became established in the west a.s a house 
of financial strength and commanding influence. 

So th'oro'Ughl)- identified was Mr. P. D. .\r- 
mour with Chicago, and so widely known, that 
whenever a resident of that citv was asked to 
name a man as the re])re5enlati\e of western 
life, ideas and ability — representati\-e in success 
and representati\-e in [lersonal character — the in- 
variable rejily was. "Phili]> 1). Armour." This 
statement finds corroboration in a piqiular ('hi- 
cago magaxine, a writer for which says: "1 had 
not met Mr. .\nnour; f had iie\ti" seen him. 1 
had gone tii Chicago with an eye uiinse<l to 
western ])erspectives, and for that reason the 
editor of a magazine had enjoiiR'd me to set 
down some of nu- impressions. 'Choose for your 
topic,' he said, "soniething rei)resentati\'e of Chi- 
cagi> — by ])reference a Chicago man." Aly in- 
rpiiry, plainly ])ut through that city, was tor the 
one in;in who best re])reseiited western life and 
success. There was no \ariel\' in the response. 



598 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



It came always, Thilip D. Armour," ur 'i'liil Ar- 
mour," as tlie case might be. " 

^Ir. 1*. D. Armour gave largely of his wealth 
to various charitable and educational institutions, 
to say nothing of his various gifts toward other 
worthy enterprises, and the many endowments of 
which no public mention is made. In 1881, upon 
the death of his brother, Joseph h". Armour, he 
was gi\en charge of a trust fund of one hundred 
thousand dollars, with which to found an institu- 
tion whose purpose it should be to reach the people 
with the teachings and influence of the gospel of 
Christ, and to insure the care and development of 
the children and youth of that part of Chicago 
where it should be located. Mr. Armour took his 
brother's bequest as a suggestion, and his bene- 
faction has been nniltiplied many times beyond 
the original bctpiest, his own gifts reaching into 
the millions. The result has been not only the 
building of the Armour JMission, but the Armour 
Flats, with adjacent structures, and later the Ar- 
mour Institute, a building of architectural beauty 



which will stand a monument to his memory for. 
all lime. The instituti(jn referred to has, in 
eight years, taken its place with the foremost 
technical schools of the world. ]\Iore than one 
thousand students are in daily attendance in its 
splendidly equipped laljoratories and shops. Sci- 
entific engineering in all its branches is a feature 
of the institution, and magnificent results are itb- 
tained. Hundreds of the graduates are to-day 
employed by the great railways and leading elec- 
trical and architectural firms of the country, 
and so great has been the apjjlications for the ser- 
vices of these graduates that almost before the 
annual list has been cmnpleted they are in general 
demand in the world of effort and achievement. 
Philip D. Armour was married at Cincinnati, 
Ohio, 1862, to Miss Malvina Belle Ogden, daugh- 
ter of Jonathan Ogden, and there were born to 
this union two sons, J. Ogden Armour, the pres- 
ent head of the great Armour interests, and 
Philip D. Armour, Jr., who died in January, 
1900. W. J. H. 



ALBERT H. PUTNEY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Albert H. Putney was born at Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, Sqjtember 28, 1872, where the first 
twenty-five years of his life were spent. He 
graduated from Vale College in 1893 with the 
degree of A. B., receiving special honors in politi- 
cal econc ni\" and history and 
being one of the "Townsend 
])rize" speakers at the commence- 
ment exercises. In the fall of 
i8(;_^ he entered the Boston Uni- 
\ersity Law School, from which 
institution he received the de- 
gree of LL. I'l. in 1895. The de- 
' gree of LL. M. was conferred 




upon him in 1900 and that of D. C. L. iri 
1902. 

j\Ir. Putney was admitted to the bar of 
Massachusetts in 1S95, and i)racticed in Boston 
from 1895 to 1898, when he came to Chicago, 
and was admitted to the bar of Illinois in 1899, 
since which time he has practiced in Chicago, 
his s[)ecial line of practice being in chancery 
cases. 

Mr. Putnev is well known as an instructor of 
law and has achieved great success as professor 
of constitutional and international law in the 
Illinois College of Law. The success of the post- 
graduate department of this institution is mainly 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



S99 



- due to liis persmial efforts. Air. ]\Uney has con- crat, and a menll^e^ of tlie County Deniocracv 

trihuted to \arious legal papers, including a series Club, the Tuscarora Club, the W'atita League, 

of articles on "Landmark Cases in United States and has been on the stump for his partv in the 

Conslitutinnal Law." Politically he is a 1 )enio.- last three campaigns. 



ALMON W. BULKLEY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




Mr. Alnion \V. Bulkley, senior member oi 
the well-known law tirm of Bulkley, Gray & 
]\Iore, is a man of great legal learning and rec- 
ognized as one of the leading and honored mem- 
bens of the Chicago bar, now distinguished for 
the brilliant achievements and 
deep learning of its members. 
During the years that be has 
practiced in the courts of this 
commonwealth he has won a 
name and fame that have left 
their impress ujxjn its judicial 
history. 

Air. Bulkley was born in 
Groton, New York, April 13, 
1852, coming of distinguished ancestry, con- 
nected with one of the oldest families both in 
this country and in England. The original 
etymology of the name was Buclough — changed 
in the thirteenth century to Bulkeley, and modi- 
fied four centuries later by the omission of the 
first "e." The complete record of the family be- 
gins with Robert, Lord oi Bulkeley, County of 
Cheshire, England. Foi" several centuries his 
descendants lived and prospered in Cheshire and 
other parts of England. They were lords and 
nobles, bishops and canons of the church, all cele- 
lirated for their great wealth and nobility of 
character. The founder of the American l.)ranch 
of the family was Rev. Peter Bulkley, who was 
l)orn in Odcll. Bedfordshire county, England, 
Jannar_\- 31, 1583, and who died in Concord, 



Massachusetts, March 9, K'jSQ. He was edu- 
cated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he 
afterward became a fellow. Later he took or- 
ders and succeeded to the living of his father in 
Odell, where he remained for twenty-one years, 
when he was silenced for nonconformity. In 
1635 he sold his estate and emigrated to iVmer- 
ica. After several months spent in Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, he made his way into the interior 
and founded the town of Concord, where he 
established the first church in 1636, and where he 
lived until his death. Three of his live sons emi- 
grated to Fairfield, Connecticut, where the grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch was born. 

From this stock is descended .Mmon W. 
Bulkle>% son of Lorenzo and Juliet A. (Coonley) 
Bulkley. His mother was of Holland Dutcii 
lir.eage. Alnion \\'. Bulkley, having acquired his 
preliminarx' education in the i)ul)lic scIktoIs. en- 
tered the Cornell University and was graduateil 
with the class of 1875. Attracted by oppor- 
tunities afiforded young men in the west, he came 
to Illinois soon after his graduation, turning bis 
attention to- school teaching. He regarded this, 
howe\'er. as sim])ly a means to an end, h;i\"ing de- 
termined to study law; and in Morris, this state, 
he gained some practical e.xperience in connection 
with the profession while serving as deputy clerk 
of the circuit court. Later, going to Ottawa, be 
there completed his legal studies and at the sanie 
time served as de]nity clerk of the appellate 
court. In 1879 he was admitted to the bar, and 



6oo 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



since 1880 lias practic«I with marked success in 
Cliiaigo. For some time he was associated as 
partner with Edward J. Judd, afterward prac- 
ticing alone for a time. In 1883 he became a 
member o\ the firm nf W'ciglew iSulkley & (lra_\', 
his partners being" branU S. W ciglev and l*ldward 
1^. (iray. This cnnncctiim was maintained until 
May I, i8(j5, wlien the present firm ni I'ulkley. 
Gray & Mure was furmed, Air. W'eigley ha\ing 
retired, while Claire E. More was admitted u> an 
iriterest in the business. Their firm enjoys a 
large clientage and has gained an en\iablc repu- 
tation in general practice as well as in corpora- 
tion and connnercial law. Individually and in 
these firms j\Ir. Bnlkley has been interested in 
immerous cases of importance. He was the prin- 
cipal counsel for The Times in the case of The 
Times vs. West, and he and iNlr. W'eigley were 
instrumental in causing the in\-estigatiiin of the 
work of the IwnHllers. which led ti' the prosecu- 
tion, conviction and imprisonment of several 
county commissioners for malfeasance in oliice. 



.\s a lawyer Mr. Bulkley has nnich natural abil- 
ity, but is, withal, a hard student and is never 
cfmtented until he has mastered e\er\- detail nf 
his cases. He believes in the maxim, "There is 
no excellence witlmut lalnr." and he fi-Ilnws it 
cliisely. lie is never siu'prised In' some unex- 
pected discnvery of an upposing lawver, fnr in 
his mind he weighs every pnint and furtilies him- 
self as well fnr defense as attack. 

]\Ir. Bulkley was married in 1882 to Miss ]'"lla 
J StalTord. daughter of Joseph Stafford, nf 
Juliet, Illinois, wlm died in January, 1897, leav- 
ing him with twn little daughters, Helen and 
Josephine. Sixiallv Mr. Ihilkle\- is connected 
with the Alasonic fraternitw holding membership 
in the Garden City Lodge, .\'o. 141. A. F. & 
A. yi.: Farwin Chai)ter, No. if)i, K. A. M. : and 
Chevalier Bay;u'd C'omm.andery, No. 52, K. F., 
of which he is past commander, lie is a \alued 
member of the Hamilton anil Hryn Mawr Clubs 
and a worthy rejiresentatixe of the Chicago Bar 
Association. 



HENRY JEFFERSON FALL 

HUDSON, WIS. 



Henrv J. ball was born in the town of Onon- 
daga, Onondaga count}-. New \'ork, March 15, 
1845, ^"^ is ''• son of Townsend and Lucretia 
(Sholas) Fall. In boyhood our subject a.ssisted 
his father, who was a tanner and who also owned 
a farm. His education was limited to the com- 
mon schools, which he attended until his seven- 
teeinh vear. 

About the time of the Ijreaking out of the 
war the death of his father compelled him to 
seek his own living. When President Lincoln 
isijued the call for volunteers Mr. Fall enlisted 
in the Second Pennsylvania Sharpshooters, and 
served with the armv un patrol duty in \'irginia 
and Tennessee. In 1863 he was nnistered out, 



cause disaljility. Mr. Fall then settled at 
Taylor's I'alls, Minnesota, where he obtained 
employment in the sawmills. He was soon ad- 
vanced and was placed in charge of the mills 
after being a foreman in a logging camp for a 
time. In 1878 he became part owner of a port- 
able sawmill and located at or near Clear Lake, 
anil in coimcction w ith his i)artner, under the firm 
name of Fall & Jones, did a good business for 
one year. In 1879 and 1880 he became interested 
in the firm of Glover & Johnson at New Rich- 
mond, \\'isconsin, and while there he also be- 
came connected with the Mill River Lumber Com- 
pnny. 

In 1885 he formed a partnership with R. II. 





-al^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



603 



McCoy, wlio at that time was casliicT dl the Mill 
River Lumljer C'linipanv. ami tlic firm nf I'all tK; 
McCoy was organized and Mr. I-'ali retired frcmi 
all conneclicins at Xew Riclnnnnd. The new 
hrni hegan operatic ms at l,akeland. Aiinnesota, 
where thev cimducted a snccesstul hnsiness nnlil 
lainiarv 1, !<^'»o. when Mr. h'all and his family 
moved l<i IJndsun, \\'isciinsin. 

The following year Mr. h'all ]nn'chased, at 
Rh'inelander, Wisconsin, the mill then owned by 
the Rib River Lumber Company, which he suc- 
cessfully operated for a time. Mr. Fall has 
always paid most of his attentinn tn the lumber 
business, although for a year he had an interest 
ii> the mercantile firm of Fall & Tlmmpson, at 
New Richmond, Wisconsin. 

Mr. Fall as a business man stands high in 
the state. During the many years nf bis active 



lile he has earned an hcjnorable name and a hand- 
sduie competency, lie is a strong believer in men 
in preference to ])arties, and so v(Jtes as to secure 
for public olfice the best men obtainable. 

Mr. l'"all has iieen married twice, the first 
time in i,Sf>f) to Miss Maggie Manning, of Tay- 
lor Falls. She died in 1881, leaving three chil- 
dren, JIarvey T., .\ellie M. and Edward K. I'all. 

In 1882 lie mai'ried Miss Ida Thompson, a 
resident of Washington county, [Minnesota. 
They have two daughters, Florence 'i\ and 
Hazel M. Fall. Mr. Fall is a thirty-second de- 
gree Mason, Scottish Rite, and a noble of the 
Mystic Shrine. 

\\'hile living at Lakeland Mr. Fall was nomi- 
nated for representative Ijy the Democratic 
jiarty, but, as the district was Republican, was de- 
feated. 



DANIEL KIMBALL PEARSONS, M. D., LL. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Daniel K. Pearsons, philanthropist, capital- 
ist and perhaps one of the best known men of the 
west, justly celebrated for his numerous and gen- 
erous gifts to western colleges, was born at Brad- 
ford, Vermont. April 14, i8_'o. and is a son of 
John and 1 iannah Pearsons. His father was a 
farmer, and his mother of good old Ivevolulion- 
ary stock and' a connection of General Putnam, 
and her father was one of the "Green IMountain 
boys," famous for their courage in the trying- 
years of the Rex'olution. She li\-ed to be ninet\'-' 
three years old, and died at Holy<ike. Massachu- 
setts, honored and loved. 

Dr. Pearsou was educated in the common 
scho<-)ls of his native .state and at sixteen began 
teaching as a means of supporting himself while 
taking a college course. Five years he labored 
and then entered Dartmouth College, taking a 
two years' course. He afterwards pursued his 



literary studies at Hanover, Xew Hampshire. 
and then returned to his native state and coiu- 
pleted medical studies at Woodstock, Vermont, 
graduating with the degree of M. D. He then 
entered upon the ]iractice of his ])rofession and 
although meeting with fine success, he soon 
found that e\en a successful practice of medicine 
did not satisfy him, and in i8r)0, he settled in 
Chicago. He soon had as his helpers some of the 
largest real estate dealers in the west, such as 
]\fichael .Sulli\an, kn<n\n as the '"farm king of 
the west," the large Sturges estate, and the Illi- 
I'.ois Central railroad, which owned vast tracts 
of land. He at once entered upon a broad field 
and his sales amounted to o\'er a million acres in 
Illinois alone. He came in contact with farmers 
from all sections and as a loan agent he was able 
to place a million per year loans for ten years, 
which was of great benefit to the farmers, who 



6o4 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



were opening up and developing tlieir farms and 
were in need of capital. During these years Dr. 
Pearsons invested in timber lands in Michigan 
and real estate. In iS.Sj. he gave up Inisiness 
and devoted his entire time to looking after his 
own large interests covering a wide field. 

Dr. Pearson is a public-spirited man )nit never 
sought office. He was. however, alderman for 
the fifth ward, being twice elected. He was also 
a member of the finance cnmnuttee at the time the 
city had borrowed beyond tlie legal limit. He 
went east, assured the capitalists every cent would 
be paid irrespective of court decisions, pledged his 
()wn fiirtune and security, came back, and raised 
half a million dollars, and saved the city's credit. 
Dr. Pearsons believes in giving his money to 
colleges where it will do the most g(XKl. He has 
given liberally to Chicago educational institutions 
to Mt. Holyoke and Beloit Colleges, and many 
others. He has built "science halls," "dormitor- 
ies," libraries, etc., until he knows the cost ol 
each. He has plans and specifications for all such 



Imildings and he can give pointers to nine-tenths 
of the college presidents who call upon him. Dr. 
Pearsons plan in aiding colleges is by giving a 
.stipulated sum. jirovided other friends of the in- 
stitution would give three times as much. He 
offers them $50,000 provided they raise $150,000. 
Dr. Pearson has given $2,000,000 in this way as 
near as we can figure. His largest gifts were Ui 
the Chicago Theological Seminary, $230,000; 
Beloit, $300,000; Mt. Holyoke, $100,000; Lake 
Forest, $100,000, etc., etc., and to many smaller 
institutions $25,000 to $50,000 each, and always 
with the proviso that friends of the institutions 
should contribute three times as nuich. He has 
many offers out now and will soon be called upon 
for large amounts. 

Mrs. Pearsons (iirc ]\Iiss Marietta Chajjin ) 
is a member of an old and time-honored family 
of Massachusetts. Air. and Airs. Pearsons ha\e 
l>een great travelers in years past, bax'ing visited 
all parts of Europe and the United States, and in 
1890 spent the winter in Egypt. 



HON. WILLIAM E. MASON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



H(jn. ^^'illiam E. Mason, the junior senator 
from the state of Illinois, was born in the village 
of Franklinville, Cattaraugus county, Xew York, 
July 7, 1850, and is a son of Lewis J. and Xancy 
(Winslow) Mason. The father, Lewis J., at the 
time of our subject's birth was engaged in mer- 
cantile pursuits; was a man i-i high character, 
very active in politics, and in his early manhood 
was identified with the abolitionists, ami became 
an active mem1>er of the Rei)ublican ]>arty on its 
organization, being an ardent adherent of John 
C. Fremont for the presidency in T856. 

In 1858 the family moved to Bentonsport, 
Iowa, and lived there until the death of the father 



in 18^5. William at the age (jf fifteen was thus 
thrown upon his own resources, and proceeded to 
battle with the world. Previous to this he had 
received the rudiments of an education in the 
public schools of Franklinville and Bentonsport, 
and had studied two years in the Binningliam 
College, and was making fair progress. Alter 
his father's death he began teaching school and 
studying until 1868. During the next two' years 
he taught public school at Des Moines, Iowa. 
He then l)egan the study of law in the office of 
Hon. Thomas F. W'inslow, an enunent corpora- 
tion lawyer, who was soon after this time ap- 
pointed general solicitor of the Chicago, Rock 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



607 



J.slaiul & I'acilic Railmad Company, and inn\c(l 
to Cliicag'n. Mr. Akison accompanied Iiini, and 
remained in his office one year, when lie liegan 
to study in the office of tlie Hon. Jolm X. Jewett, 
where lie tinished his preparatinn for admis.sion 
to the bar. For several years he remained in the 
office of Mr. Jewett and tlien fnrmed a ])artner- 
ship with Judge M. R. ]\1. Wallace in 1S77; 
later was senior memher uf the law hrm of I\Ia- 
son & Bemis. 

Mr. IMason has always been an ardent Re- 
publican and acti\e in [wjlitics. Before be was 
thirty he was a member of the general assembly 
of Illinois, and in 1SS2 was sent to. the state sen- 
ate of Illinois. In 1888 he was elected to the 
fiftieth congress, and re-elected to the fifty-first 
congress. He took an active part in securing the 
World's b'air for Chicago. He was elected to 



the Ciiiled States senate January 20, 1897, for 
a term, of si.x years, and took bis seat March 4, 
that year. 

Senator iNIason is a man uf great natural abil- 
ity. He is a gTacefuI and eloquent orator, a man 
of the people, and from e.xperience knows their 
needs and always enters heartily into any mo\e- 
iiient calculated ti> lietter their condition. Per- 
scnall)- he is one of the most jwpular men in the 
senate. In the campaigns of 1888, 1892 and 
1896 he became widely known as an effective and 
convincing" political sijeaker, winning" renown as 
an orator who seldom failed to carry cmuiction 
to the minds of bis auditors. 

In 1873 Senator Mason married Miss Edith 
Julia White, daughter of Mr. George White, of 
Des Moines, low-a. They have a family of seven 
children. 



NAPOLEON B. VAN SLYKE 

MADISON, WIS. 



Napoleon 1!. \'an Slyke, one of the best- 
known bankers in the state of Wisconsin, has 
been president of the First National Bank at 
Madison, Wisconsin, since 1865. He is als(» ime 
of the pioneer residents of the city, and has for 
main" \ears l)een one of its rep- 
resentative citizens. 

Mr. \'an Slyke was burn in 
Saratoga county, New York, De- 
cember 21, 1822, obtained his 
education in the pul)lic schools, 
and in 1844 engaged in farming 
until 1850, when be left the farm 
and entered the salt trade in 
Saliiia, now ])art of Syracu.se, 
In 1853 he remoxed to Madison, 
Wisconsin, and organized the Dane County Bank, 
now the First National Bank, of which he is presi- 




Xew \'(:rk. 



dent, and also \-ice-])residciit nf the Sa\"ings, 
I.oan & Trust Company. 

He has servetl in various caiiacities, such as 
l)resident of the W'isconsin State Bankers" Asso- 
ciation, and the same office in several cor[)ora- 
tions. During" the Civil war he was assistant 
quartermaster-general of the state until the gov- 
ernment took charge of and furnished all mili- 
tary supplies, when be, more a business manager 
than a military officer, was put in charge of iiro- 
\iding all the clothing, cam|) and garrison e(|ui- 
page and quartermaster's stores for the Wiscon- 
sin soldiers in the state, holding the successive 
ranks of captain, major and lieutenant colonel, 
and at the close of the war was mustered out 
with I)re\el rank of lieutenant colonel. 

With the reorganization of the Wisconsin 
State University in 1866 he was made resident 



6o8 PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 

rti.'^ent. and for twelve years chainiian of the tlie welfare of llie state and community in whicli 

extcutive committee. He is tlie only surviving lie lives, lie has taken no active part in partisan 

original incorjxirator of the State Historical So- ixilitics and has held no renuinerative office ex- 

cietv, and has long been one of its curators and cept the postniastershi]) under President Polk, 

chairman of its finance committee. He prefers to be at home and at his de.sk. 

Being a man of independent thought and ac- His history is one of usefulness, such as con- 

tion. he owes no allegiance to any political party. stitutes tlie record to hel]) make a state's pros- 

\\hile deei)1v interested in (piestii>ns concerning perity and pride. 



WILLIAM P. BLACK 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Caplaiu W illiam P. I'.lack is one of the great blue April 13, 1861, as a private, and on the ex- 
la wvers of the lllin.iis bar, and has been in active piration of the three-months term was nuistered 
nractice in I'hicauo since iS()(). He is a man of out as a corixiral. In the meantime it was seen 
charming personality, profound legal wisdom, that the war was to be no ho|id;iy affair, and 
and the (juiet dignity of an ideal follower of his President Lincoln issued his call for three-year 
(,.,]jj,,o-. men. C'orjioral lilack then at once assisted in 

Mr. lilack is a native of Kentucky, and was recruiting a company in \'ermilinn county, Illi- 

born in W'kiodford county in 1842. He is of nois, and was elected as captain. The troops 

Scotch-Irish lineage, and is a son of the Rev. were mustered in at Chicago as Company K, 

John Black, 1). D., who died when the son was Thirty-seventh Illin<iis Infantry, known as the 

five vears of age. William moved witli his Frem<Hit Pilles, and thus before he bad reached 

n-other .soon afterward to Danville, lllin(jis. his nineteenth birthday, be retained the coin- 



Here be rcceised his early education and here mand of his company until be was dul\ nuistered 
he iiassed his bnvhood d.ays. Later he entered out of service on September .:;(), iSfq. i)arlici- 
Wabash College at Cr;i\\ fonls\ ille, Indiana, pating in all the engagements of his regiment, 
where his CMllcgiate career was marke.l by close At the siege of X'icksburg be held the i-es|,..nsible 
;[p|)lication and high standing, an.l his excellent position of brigade i)ickct officer, having charge 
scholarship won f..,- hiin the respect and admira- of the rille pits of bis brigade, 
tinii ,,f bis precei)tMrs. The year following bis return from the war 
While engaged in luirsuing bis education the Captain Black .spent in the office of the provost 
.south attemi)ted secession, and with all the ardor marshal of the seventh Illinois congressional 
an.l i-atriotism of bis nature he es)). used the <listrict, in Hanville. Tn 1865 he became a law 
I'nion cause, f-.r hardly had the smoke of Fort student in the office of Arrington & Dent, a well- 
Sumter's guns cleared away when, with forty of known Chicago law firm, .\ftcr his admission 
bis fellow .students, including his only brother, to the bar he practiced for a year in Danville, 
b.bn Charles, who rose to the rank of general, and then, returning to Chicago, formed a part- 
he joined Companv F of the F:leventh liubana ner.ship with Thomas Dent, his former preceptor. 
Zouaves, commanded by Colonel I afterward which continued until 1886. During the greater 
General) Lew Wallace. He joined the boys in jiart of his professional career he has devoted his 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 6ii 

energies to civil law. His nuted defense nf the written many able articles. He is not a ixjli- 

anarchists, undertaken because of bis love of tician, and iiis views are independent. He voted 

justice and l)ecause of tbe refusal by criniiiial tbe l\e]iublican ticket prior to \Hjj. since wben 

lawyers to bandle tbcir case, bas long since lie- be bas been independent, voting as be likes. In 

come aniatter of history, lie bas been connected iS'Sj be was a cmdidate for congress, 
witb mucb of tbe most important litigation in tbe .\i tbe Democratic convention beld at C'bi- 

civil courts for many years. cago June 14. kjoj, Captain lilack received tbe 

Ca]itain lilack bas gi\eu deep tlionglil and HMniin;itioii inv judge of tbe circuit court, 
careful investigation to social and economic Cajitaiu Ulack was married in iHCnj to Miss 

questions of tbe day, and on tbese topics has TT(]rtensia M. MacGreal, of (Jalveston, Texas. 



HON. STEPHEN BENTON ELKINS 

ELKINS, \V. VA. 

Steplien Benton Elkins, lawyer, tiuancicr. In jSdN 1 'i-c-,iileiU b.luison appointed Mr. 

secretary of war in tbe cabinet of President Har- T^lkins to l)e L"nited States district attornev of tbe 

rison, and now United States senator, was born territory, and be was one of tbe few ofticials of 

ill Perry county, Obio, September 2h, 1841, bis tbat adnu'nistration wboni President (irant did 

father being a farmer. During his early boyhood not remove. In this position it fell to tbe lot (jf 

tbe family raf)ved to Missouri. Mr. Elkins re- Mr. b'lkins to enforce tbe act of congress pro- 

ctived an excellent education in the public schools lubiting slaverv or involuntary servitude in the 

and at the university of the state. He gradu- territories of the L'nited Slates, and be bad tbe 

aled in i860, at the head of his class. After .satisfaction of restoring to lil)erty several tbou- 

fitting himself for practice of the law he was ad- .sand ])eons. wlm were then beld in practical 

mitted to tbe bar in 1863. Duritig the war be sl;i\er\ by the .Mexican residents, 

joined tbe Union forces, and for a while ser\ed In i8()(; .Mr. b'.lkins was electi^d ])res:deiit of 

on tbe Missouri border, witb the rank of caji- the b'irst .\;itioual Uauk of .Santa Fe and beld 

t;nn. ibi^ position for thirteen years. His income 

Tbe spirit of adxenlure and a desire to ])r;ic- fmni law jiractice and other sources was large, 

tice bis ]>rofession in .1 held which was not over- and at an earlx' da\- be was enabled to in\cst large 

crowded, led him in 1864 to cross tbe ])lains to sums of mone_\' in L-uids and mines, soon taking 

New Me.xico. Finding it necessary, at once, to rank as one of the largest land proprietors in tbe 

master the Spanish language, Mr. Elkins be- country and an extensive owner in tbe silver 

came |)roficient in that tong'ue within one year. ir.iues of Colorado. 

Stalwart ;md cajialile. be soon .-itlracted im- Tn 1873 Mr. I'dkins received an election as 

portatit clients and a large ])ractice, ami gained ilelegate from Xew ]\le\ico to congress, defeat- 

])o|>u!arity and influence. In 1866 he was elected ii^g bis o])jioiK'nt, a Mexican, l)v four thousand 

to the legislature. His speeches in that body re- ni;ijc;rit)-. In congress he served his constituents 

vealed great force of character and devotion to .so well tbat, in 1875, while traveling in Europe, 

the welfare of the territory. In 1867 he rose to notwithstanding a positive refusal to accept the 

the jxjsition of attorney general of Xew Mexico. office again, his district re-elected him band- 



6l2 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



somely to the forty- fmirth congress. He could 
do no less than accept the honor thus bestowed 
and serve a seci.md term. In congress he quick!}' 
gained prominence li\- iniluslry, al>ilit_\- and effect- 
ive support of important measures. During his 
second term he was especially untiring in efforts 
to secure the admission of New Mexico as a 
state, ^^■hile in cimgress Mr. l^lkins married a 
daughter of e.x-Scnator Henry G. Davis, of West 
Virginia. 

Four years of experience in Washington 
brought Mr. Elkins well into the arena of public 
affairs. His advocacy of constructive measures 
made him. during his first term in congress, one 
of the leaders of his party, and in 1875 a mem- 
ber of the Republican national committee. Upon 
this committee he served during three presiden- 
tial campaigns. In 18S4 the executive committee 
elected him chairman. A warm and intimate 
friendship soon sprang up between James G. 
Blaine and Mr. Elkins, and the latter was influ- 
ential in bringing about the nomination of Mr. 
Blaine for the presidency in 1SS4. He was 
equally instrumental in the nominaion of Benja- 
min Harrison in 1888 and 1892. 

December 17, 1891, he became secretary of 
war imder President Harrison. His appoint- 
ment brought into the service of the army a man 
of intellectual .^-.trengtli, an excellent organizer 
and a courteous gentleman. He was invariably 
cordial and obliging to persons engaged in pub- 
lic business and exceedingly helpiul to .senators 
and manbers. Patient in invesigation. prompt 
in (Iccisiiin and sinccrel)' desirous of promoting 
the welfare of the army, he ])ro\ed a successful 
and useful secretarx' of war. 

Mr. Elkin's reputation does not rest entirely 
u.pon his public ser\iccs. His progress in the 
held of business and tin;uice has been marked. 
Alxnit 1878 he removed fri'm Xew Mexico to 
West \^irginia. and tliere devoted himself, in 
company with ex-Senator Davis, to the dev-elop- 



ment of the railroads of the state and the co;d and 
timber lands of the Cumberland regiim. While 
practical affairs soon cnnipclkd him to abandon 
legal practice in the courts, yet he has always re- 
tained his interest in the law, and superintends 
all legal matters connected with his various en- 
terprises. Success has followed effort in these 
enterprises, but it should be mentioned, that 
wdiile adding to some extent to his private for- 
tune Mr. Elkins has conferred upon the people 
of his adopted state for greater benefits than he 
nas received. He has 1>een vice-president of the 
West Virginia Central & Pittsburg Railway 
Company since its organization, and of the Pied- 
mont & Cumlierland Railroad, and is president 
of the Da\is Coal & Coke Company. Through 
his agency large amounts of capital ha\e been 
brought into the state and employment ])ro\ided 
for thousands of men. 

In December, 1892, Mr. Elkins received the 
complimentary vote of the Republicans of the 
legislature of West Virginia for United States 
senator. Diu'ing the campaign of 1894 he led 
the Re]niblicans of West Virginia in the strug- 
gle, which, for the first time since the peritxl of 
reconstruction, broke the solid south. Four Re- 
publicans were elected to congress: the legisla- 
ture was made Republican by twenty-nine ma- 
ioritv on joint balli^t. and the state carried by 
thirteen thousand majority. As a result of this 
revolution the legislature elected Mr. Elkins 
United States senator in 1895. 

His home is the beautiful country seat of 
"Ilalliehurst," at b'-lkins. in Randolph county. 
\\'est Virginia. This large mansion stands upon 
a mountain site of unusual beauty, commanding 
a magnificent view (;f the valley beneath and the 
forests and nmnntain [jcaks which fr.nme the 
scene. The house, four stories high, with towers, 
seems from a distance greatly like an old-time 
castle. .\ ])orch surrounds the structure on three 
sides, and the main hall, fifty-eight feet long by 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



613 



twenty-five feet wide, indicates tlie size ul the 
uther apartments. 

During his casual residence in Xew Vurk, 
where liis l>usiness affairs requireil liini U* ])ass 
nuicli (if his time, he assdciated himself with 
nian\- Incal interests, tlioroughly in accord with 
his energetic nature, and became a memlier nf the 
Union League, Republican, Oliid, United Serv- 
ice, MetropoHtan and Manhattan Athletic Clubs, 
and the Southern Society. Like other public- 
spirited citizens, he also contributed to the sup- 



port of those favorite projects of retined Xew 
Yorkers, the Metropolitan .Museum of Art and 
the American Museum of Natural History, as 
well as the American Geographical Society. 

A man of strong and sturdy build, more than 
six feet in height, with fine features, and a large 
head set firmly on innverful shoulders, he is yet 
in the prime of life and an active force in affairs. 
His favorite room at hoane is his library, and he 
spends most of his time there, in the company of 
a large and well-selected collection of books. 



JAMES FRAKE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



James Frake is numbered among the able 
members of the Illinois bar. .\s a lawyer he 
stands pre-eminently high. His familiarity with 
legal principles have won him many a case. His 
practice is large and of an important nature, and 
demands thorough underst;uiding 
of the intricate problems of )uris- 
]irudence. 

James Frake was born March 
29, 1 84 1, at Loughborough. Lei- 
^^jg ■ cestershire. England, and is a 

son of George b'rake, who died 
March 2-^. x'l^^i^, and was buried 
at \\'heeling. Cook count}-, Illi- 
nois, and .\my Taylor Frake. 
who died in Chicago, 1887. and was buried at 
West Nortbfield, Cook county, Illinois. They 
emigrated to America in 1844. 

James Frake received his early education in 
a log school house and followed tliat by a course 
at the Northwestern University at I'A'anston. Illi- 
nois. He then taught for a vear at the Bloom 
Academy to gain' means for i)ro'fessional studies, 
and then attended tlie law school connected with 
the University of Chicago, from which he grad- 
uated in June, i86y. He at once opened an office 




for the practice of his profession and has con- 
tinued the same ever since. He has been con- 
nected with many im|)ortant cases, as the records 
will show, and it is needless to say that he has 
won many hartl-fought legal victories. 

Mr. Frake was a member of the board of edu- 
cation from January, 1880, to June. 1882, and 
has been secretary of the Newsboys' and Boot- 
blacks' Association for twenty years, a director 
in the Home for Destitute Cripple Children since 
its organization, and is a member of the Lincoln 
and Illinois Clubs. He has traveletl considerablv. 
having made four different trips to Eurojje. In 
religious matters he is a Methodist, and politi- 
cally a Republican. 

Mr. Frake has liecn twice married. His first 
wife was Miss M.nlinda Doty, of Will county, 
Illinois, vvho' died in '^^~t,\ no children. ^Ir. 
Frake then married Miss Evelyn .Mien, whose 
Ijcople came from ^'ermont and settled in Elk 
Grove, Cook county, Illinois, in 1834. where .she 
was born. Of this marri;ige four children have 
been born to them (two having died), a son, 
.'Mien, and a daughter. Emily Frake. Mrs. Frake 
was a member of the board of education of the 
city of Chicago from July, 1895, to July, 1898. 



6i4 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



ALBERT GOLDSPOHN, B. S., M. D. 

CHICAGU, ILL. 



Dr. Allicrt ( I'lldspdlin. prdfessnr n\ <;ynecii1- 
ogy of the I'ost-draduate Medical ScIiduI, and 
sciiiiir g-_vneciiliji;i.sl td the (ieniian Hnspital uf 
Chica.i^o. was liorii in W'iscDiisin. Se])teinl)er 23. 
1851. and is a .son of \\ iUiani and I-'redereke 
(Kohhnann) Goldspohn, hmh df wluun were na- 
tives of Gemiany, wliere they were educated, l^ut 
came to America l>efore marriage. His paternal 
grandfather \vas one of the few survivors of the 
ccld, famine and fatigue df the menidrable re- 
treat of Najxilcdn frdni Mdscdw in 1812. The 
parents taught their children the i)ro])cr German 
language. ''Hochdentsch." and this has been of 
great value to^ Dr. Goldspdhn wliile pursuing his 
literary and professional studies, and especially 
while taking the two-_\ears post-graduate course 
in Germany. 

A,s the eldest child of a pioneer farmer, his 
boyliO(xl days were thdrdnghly schooled in in- 
dustry. He cared little t'dr play hut tdok great 
interest in lnwiks and stnilw lM"oni the hrst his 
inclinatidu was all toward a thorough scholar- 
sliip. which was approved strongl}' h}' his i)ar- 
ents. wild though pdor were educated and knew 
the value of an educatidn. In due time he ;n- 
tended the graded sclidnls. where he still further 
exhibited his schdlarlv tendencies. Afterward he 
s])ent two and a half vears ;is a clerk in a drug 
stdre. where as prescriptidn clerk and as student 
df drugs he first determined u])on a Cdllegiate 
conrse and the ultimate study uf medicine, .\fter 
com]>leting his preliminary educatidn he entered 
North western Cullege. of Xaperville, Illinois, 
taking the Latin scientific Cdnrse of studies and 
graduating in 1875 with the degree of Bachelor 
of Science. He then attended Rush Medical Col- 
lege for three consecutive years, and obtained his 
n-.edical degree in 1878. 



Dr. Gi Idspdhn then entered Cdok County 
Ho.spital as interne, and gained wide experience 
and knowledge during his eighteen months of 
service. lie then determined td further equip 
himself fur the ])rofessidn by taking a post-grad- 
uate course in the great uni\-ersitie> of lun"t>pe. 
To enable him to do this it was necessary fur 
him to enter private practice, which he did in 
the town of Desplaines. Illinois, and with such 
success that he was enabled to take the cd\eted 
trip abroad in 1885. For two years he pursued 
his studies in the famous universities of Heidel- 
berg, ^\'uerzburg, Stras.sburg. Halle and Berlin, 
directing liis attention generally to surgery and 
particularly to gynecology, and in w hich specialty 
he has since acfjuirecl well-merited distinction. 
Thus reinforced professionally by broad experi- 
ence and training he returned to Chicago in 1887 
and commenced practice. Six months later he 
was appointed <ine of tlie attending surgeons to 
the German 1 Idspital, and in June. i8(^_'. pru- 
fessor of g>Miecology in the l^ost-tjradnate .Scliddl 
and Hospital of the city. 

Dr. Goldspdhn is an active member df the 
jMedical. ^ledicd-lcgal, Gynecdlogical and uf the 
Pathological Si>cieties of Chicagd; df tlie Illinois 
State Medical Society: of the Mississi])pi Valley 
]\Iedical Association ; of the American Medical 
Association: of the .Xmerican Academy of Medi- 
cine; of the .\inerican Association of Obstetri- 
cians and (i\-necologists, and of the Internatidnal 
Periodical Congress of Obstetricians and Gyne- 
cologists. For a number of years he has l)een a 
quite regular contributdr of original articles on 
gynecological, siu-gical or hygienic subjects to 
the annual transactidns df all except twd df these 
ten scientific medical organizations. 

Politicallv he is a Republican, and in religious 




'C^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



G17 



inallcrs a I'rntcstant, l)cin<^" a nicnihcr nf tlic (.)ctiil)L'r 22, 1^79, J )r. ( inlclspnhn was mar- 
Evangelical Assucialiiin. 1 )r. (inldspilm is a ricd to .Miss V'ictnria \L. I'-scIkt, wlm died June 
careful and tlmnaii^lt sludcn!, kccpinti' al)reast of 29, 1885. I'rior to Ins return tn America, nu 
the times and up in the hest medical literature of August 4, 1887, he was married tu Miss Cornelia 
the daw and liesides is a \alued contriliuKir, ]■'. W'alz, of Stuttgart, w ho also died, after a long 



especialh' i.n subjects ol his sjiecialty. 



illness, on March 



1 90 1 . 



ANDREW JACKSON AIKENS 



MILWAUKEE, WIS. 



iVndrew Jackson Aikens, editor of The Even- 
ing Wisconsin, one of the most intluential and 
prosperous newspapers west of the great lakes, 
son of Warren Aikens and Lydia Cobb, was 
born on a farm adjoining that of his grandfather, 
in Barnard, X'ermont, on October 31, 1830. Soon 
after graduating" from high school of his locality 
he betrayed a partiality fur the printing business. 
and sought and obtained a position in the print- 
ing establishment of Charles G. Eastman, at 
Woodstock, and de\-elopexl so much adaptability 
to the bnsiness and such early journalistic talent 
that at the end of four years he became editor (jf 
the paper then published at Woodstock, and at 
Bennington, Vermont, he also published a paper. 
At the age of twcnt_\' lie left Vermont for Massa- 
chusetts, and for two years conducted a paper at 
North Adams in that state; l)ut his soul yearned 
for a wider field of action, and in less than two 
years thereafter he located in Boston, where he 
was oi^'ered and accepted the position of reporter 
in the legislature, and proofreader in the state 
printing office, and taking a deep and active in- 
terest in the political cjuestions of the day, he 
early attracted attention by his ability as a speak- 
er and organizer, and was sent as delegate from 
Massachusetts to the Free Soil convention at 
Pittsburg in 1S52, which nominated John P. TTalc 
for president. 

In the fall of 1854 Mr, Aikens was offered 
and accepted the position of western correspond- 



ent of the Xew York Evening Post, and while 
upon this trip' he visited Milwaukee and made 
the accjuaintance of William E. Cramer, of The 
Evening Wisconsin, he being at that time alone 
in the management of that paper. Mr. Cramer 
ipiickly recognized the worth and ability of the 
young correspondent, and iniluced him to remain 
and accept a position on the staff' of his journal, 
and he has been associated in the management 
of that successful newspaper since August, 1854, 
in which he has displayed not only good judgment 
and rare tact, but developed mechanical talents 
in connection with the enterprise which stamped 
him as a man of marked ability. 

During the upwards of fifty-si.x years that Mr. 
Aikens has been coimected with 'J"he hLvening 
Wisconsin the writings of Mr. Aiken ha\e com- 
manded general attention, and his letters from 
Europe during his two trips abroad in 1877 and 
1878 were greatly admired, not only on account 
of their literarv worth, but also for their faithful 
portraiture of the lands and ]ieoples he \isited. 

Tn answer to the cpiestion as to how he came 
to originate the ])ractice of ])rinting country 
ricwspapcrs partlv upi;n one side, at a central of- 
fice, with news and general advertisements, and 
])artly at home offices with the local news and 
local advertisements. Mr. Aikens says: "I first 
conceived the idea when an ;i])])renticc to the 
])rinting liusiness in the Spirit id' tlie .\ge office 
in Woodstock, \'ermont, in 184^1. Two i:r three 



6i8 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



of the printers of the ot^ce had gone to the Mex- 
ican war, and they were sliort-handed in De- 
ceml)er of tliat year to set the type for President 
Pcilk's message to congress, so two pages of tlie 
Boston Herald were ordered printed willi the 
message and sent up to tlie Woodstoci-; paper, 
whicli printe<l twn pages of liome advertising 
and reading matter, making four pages. idie 
paper was (kited, 1 beUeve, December lo, 1846; 
that pajjcr 1 ha\e in a bound fomi. 

"Some time liefore tliis we had printetl a con- 
tinued story in the Spirit of the -Vge, entitled 
"The Story of a Father,' if I remember rightly, 
by Douglas Jerrold. This story and 'Mrs. 
Caudle's Curtain Lectures,' by Jerrold, were 
very popular with the newspapers, and several 
were printing them as a serial, and it occurred to 
me when setting the type for tlie weekly install- 
ments that some other bo\s were doing the same 
in some other office, and that a lot of unnecessary 
work was being done. It also occurred to me 
that the printing- of the matter in common could 
be concentrated in one ofHce, and I determined 
if I ever had an office large enough I would tr_\- 
and print several newspapers oi¥ from the same 
forms, putting the general advertising and the 
general miscellaneous matter on one side and 
the local matter and Incal advertisements on the 
other side. According to this conception, I did, 
in iS'')4, in the office of the E\ening Wisconsin, 



commence to print newspapers on this plan, and 
tliey came to be called 'Patent Insides," 'Co-op- 
erative Papers,' and \arious trade names. There 
are now ox'er eight thousand papers printed on 
my plan; more than half of all weeklv pajiers in 
the I'nited States." 

Air. Aikens married Miss Amanda L. Barnes 
on Jauuar\- 4. 1N54. I'our children were born 
to them, of whom onlv twO' survive — the third 
child, christened Stella Cramer, who married 
.\rthur Johnson in 1890, and is now living in 
Tacoma, Washington, and Mary Lydia Aikens, 
who is engaged in college wurk in Xew ^'<lrk 
City. Left a widower in 1892, Mr. Aikens re- 
married in 1894, his second wife being Kath- 
erine Vine Crehore, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. 
Mr. Aikens is especially proud of his young son 
b\- this marriage, named Andrew Jackson 
Aikens, born March 22. 1896, who, in his child- 
hood, evidences traits of character which were 
the forerunners of his father's great success in 
life. 

Mr. Aikens is of Scotch descent, and traces 
his family record to the Aikenses of Hardwick, 
who came to Salem, ^Massachusetts, from ^lon- 
trose, Scotland, in the early jxirt of the eight- 
eentli century. On his mother's side he is de- 
scended from John Ibiwland, one of the Pil- 
grims who signed the compact in the ^la^tlower 
in 1620. 



PAUL O. STENSLAND 

CHICAGU, ILL. 

Paul O. Stensland, banker, was born at Bombay, India, as a selector and buyer of cotton. 

Sandeid, Stavanger, Norway, Ma\- 9, 1847, antl is He spent nearly fi\e years in this occupation, 

a son of Ole and Karen Stensland. He attended \isiting nearly every part of that vast country, 

the schools of his nati\'c district, and received antl also tra\'eling in Persia. Araliia ami Abys- 

such education as they could give, but before at- sinia. In 1871 he returned to Norway, and his 

taining his majority started out in life as a sailor, parents having died shortly afterwanl. he would 

At the end of a year he gave up the sea and ac- have set out for tlie Orient again had it not been 

cepted empkiyment with an English house at for the opposition of his affianced wife. He de- 





t<^^ 




^-c:^^t^^^^^^<^-i:^«'«^'*!£_._.,,,,,^^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



621 



cidcd tt) settle in America, an<l arrived in Chi- 
cago a sIk rt time hcfure the great tire, and lias 
Ii\ed tliere ever since. Jle at unce engaged in tiie 
dry goods trade, in winch he was very .snccess- 
I'nl. until 1NS5, when he took up the real estate 
and insurance liusincss. Four years later he 
o]iene<l a prix.ite bank, which in iS(;i was in- 
coriKiratcd as the .Milwaukee A\enue State Bank, 
Mr. Stensland becoming president, as he has e\'er 
since continued. Tlie bank has been an important 
factor in developing the manufacturing and busi- 
ness interests of the northwest part of the city. 
i\Jr. Stensland is also identitied with many other 
large and important business interests, in which 
his energy, rare judgment and ability find full 
scope. During 1889-1894 he was the publisher 
of the "Xorden," a newspaper which has a large 
circulation among the Norwegians of the west 
and northwest. 

In 1879 he \\'as appointed a member of the 



board of edncatii,n by Mayor Harrison, and 
served three terms, a period of nine vears, being, 
meantime, chairman O'f several important com- 
mittees. Later he was appointed to the commis- 
sion to revise the city charter of Chicago. He 
was one of the m<ist energetic advocates of the 
Columbian l'l\[)ositiMn and a nicmhcr of its biiard 
of managers. 

Mr. Stensland is a member oi the Lutheran 
church, and generously active in its charitaljle en- 
terprises. He is a Democrat in politics, although 
steadily declining all nominations to elective 
offices. Generous in his impulses, he enjoys the 
high regard of a wide circle of personal friends 
and the confidence of all who know him. 

He is a member of the Irociuois and the Union 
League Clubs and several Scandinavian social 
organizations. He was married in 1871, and has 
a daughter and a son, the latter a graduate of 
Harvard College, class of 1898. 



EMMETT REUBEN HICKS 

OSHKOSH, WIS. 

Enimett R. Hicks, attorney general for the B. S., finishing the Law School of the same uni- 

state of \\isconsin, is one of the strongest and versity in 1880, with the degree of LL. B. He 

best-known lawyers of bis state. Lie stands high took special work at the uni\-ersity in 1879-80, 

at the bar, where liis great earnestness and force for which he received the degree of A. AI. Mr. 



of mrmner gives him an almost irresistable in- 
tluence. 

Emmclt R. Hicks was liorn, at 
W'aukan, Winnebago county, 
Wisconsin, March 7, 1854, and 
is a son of Reuben I'owel Hicks 




Cniversitv o 



Hicks commenced the practice of his profession 
at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1880, and has con- 
tinued it there ever since. In religious matters 
he is a Alethodist. and politicall\- a sl.anch Re- 
publican. He has always supported his party 
from the time of casting his first vote. A pohti- 
and Sophia Betsey (Kimball) cal campaigner in Wisconsin, Illinois. Imhana, 
Hicks. His earlv education was ()hio and other states and a jjlatform speaker on 
received at the schools in the vil- pulilic questions and orator, etc., his p<jlitical 
lage of Omro, Wisconsin, and career has been alike able and honorable. From 
supplemented by a course in the 1S96 to 1899 he was cliairman of the county 
f Wisconsin, at Madison, from board, W'innebago county, and from 1899 to 



diich he graduated in 1876 with the degree of 1902 at the head of the legal dci)artment, at- 



622 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



torney general fur the state of Wisconsin. Mr. of Lntlier A. Reed. They have three children, 
Hicks was married September 15, 1880, to Miss Bert R., fiteen years of age: Luther R.. ten years 

Cvnthia M. Reed, df ( )nirii, Wisconsin, daugliter old: and W'ilhani 1*". Hicks, li\e vears old. 



HON. HENRY CLAY PAYNE 

MILWAUKEE, WIS. 



Henry Clay Payne, postmaster-general of the 
United States, was Ixirn at .\slitield. Franklin 
county, Massacluisetts, No\emher J3, 1843, and 
is the son of Orrin P. and Eliza (Ames) Payne. 
Plis ancestors un Ijuth sides were natives of 
Massachusetts, and their names are found in the 
military and civil records uf that ci>mmiin\vealth 
as far back as tlie days of tlie Puritan settlers. 
He was educated in his native town antl at the 
academy of Shellxiurne I-'alls, where lie was 
graduated in 1839. He entereil business life at 
once, at Xcirthami)ton, Massachusetts, but in Sep- 
tenil>er, 1S65, nrnved li> Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 
where he lias since resided. He was for several 
years connected witli the dry goods firm of F. R. 
Sheriom & Company. His first active appear- 
ance in politics was in the (irant-Greeley cam- 
paign of 187 J, when lie was active in organizing 
the Young Men's Republican Club. Since then 
he has been in continuous service as an ottlcer of 
the Rqniblican party organizations in the city, 
state and nation, having been secretary and presi- 
dent of the ^'oung Men's Reiniblicau Club, sec- 
retary and chairman of the Republican cuunty 
C(/mmittee of .Milwaukee enmity, and secretary 
and cliairman of the Ivepublican state central 
committee of Wisconsin. In j88o he was elected 
a member of the Republican national committee, 
and has continuously held that position, havin.g 
l)articipated in that ca]iacity in five presidential 
campaigns, and has l)een a member of the execu- 
tive committee of the national committee during 
three presidential campaigns. During the first 



]\lcKinley campaign of 1896 he was in charge of 
the western heaikpiarters in Ciiicago. In |anu- 
ary, 1875, lie was apiwinted postmaster at Mil- 
waukee, holding the office about ten years, until 
the Democrats succeeded to the control of the 
national government. He has been active in 
business affairs, and held impurtant offices in 
many corporations, such as president of the Wis- 
consin Telephone Company, president of the Mil- 
waukee City Railroad Company and of the 
Cream City Railway Company. Through his 
efforts all the street railways in the city of Mil- 
waukee were consolidated into the Milwaukee 
Electric Railway and Light Company, of which 
Mr. Payne was vice-president and manager. He 
was also president of the Fox River X'aliey Elec- 
tric Railway Company, and the acti\e head of 
the Milwaukee Light, Heat and Traction Com- 
pan\-, wliicli has built and is operating the 
suburban electric railways running out of Mil- 
waukee. In 1887 Mr. Pa\iie was elected presi- 
dent of the ^Milwaukee & Northern Railroad 
Com])anv, and continued as such until the road 
was consolidated with the Chicago, Milwaukee 
& St. Paul Railroad Company. In 1893 he was 
appointed one of the receivers of the Northern 
Pacific Railroad Company. 

In Decenil>er, 1901, Mr. Payne was appoint- 
ed by President Roosevelt postmaster-general of 
the United States. 

Mr. Payne was married in New York City, 
October 15. 1867, to T^ydia W., daughter of Rich- 
ard and Marv W. fThomas) Van Dyke. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



623 



NICHOLAS SENN, M. D., LL. D., Ph. D. 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



Dr. Xicliiilas Senn was Ixini in the Canton 
of St. (iall, in eastern Switzerland, (Jctuber 31, 
1844. His parents, wlio' l)elonged tOi tlie indus- 
triims and hardy t_\ [te of agriculturists, were in 
hunilile circumstances, and. wishing to gixe their 



at the L'ni\'ers.tv nf Munich, recei\ing' fruni that 
institution the degree of Al. 1). Upon his return 
to America he was elected by the College of I'liy- 
sicians and Surgeons of Chicago to the cliair ol 
practice of surgery and clinical surgery, in which 



children the benefit of greater advantages to be capacity he ser\ed three years, after which he 

found in America, they came to this country in accepted the chair of principles of surgery in 

1852, and settled in Washington county, Wis- Rush Medical College. Since 1891 he has oc- 

consin. Here in the district schools Nicholas cujiied the chair of practice of surgery- and clin- 

acquired his early education, after which he went ical surgery. He is also professor of surgery 

to Fond du Lac and attended the grammar in the Chicago Polyclinic, attending surgeon to 

school, from which he graduated. Following the Presbyterian Hospital and surgeon-in-chief 

this he taught school for several years and in to St. Joseph's Hospital. He has served as presi- 

1864 began his medical studies in the office of Dr. dent of the American Medical Association and 

E. Munk, of Fond du Lac. Two years later he is ex-president (jf the American Surgical Asso- 

came tO' Chicagc) and entered the Chicago ]\Ied- ciatiiui, an honorary fellnw in the College of 

ical College, from which he graduated in 1868. Physicians (PhiladelphiaL a life member of the 

He then passed a competitive examination and (lerman Congress of Surgeons, a corresponding 



secured the appointment of resident physician to 
Coo'k County Hospital, and ser\-e(l in this ca- 
pacity the regular term of eighteen months. 

In 1869 Dr. Senn removeil to ,\shf(jrd. Fond 
du Lac county, Wisconsin, and took up the prac- 
tice of his pro'fession, but five years later he set- 
tled in Milwaukee in order to obtaiia a wider 
held than is allowed tO' the country [ilixsician. 
He soon became attending pliysician to the I\lil- 



member of the Harveian Society (London), an 
honorary member of La Academia de Medicina 
de Mexico, an honorary member (.f the Hayes 
Agnew .Surgical Society (Philadelphia), a mem- 
ber of the British Medical Association and of the 
prominent national, state and local medical so- 
cieties. Dr. Senn is also surgeon-genera! of the 
National Cuard of Illinois, ex-president of the 
Association of Military Surgeons of the United 
waukee Hospital, and afterward, as his practice States, and in the late Spanish-American war 
was directed into other channels almost purely was chief surgdiU of the United States A'ulun- 
surgical, he became either attending or consulting teers and chief of operative staff with the arm_\- in 
surgeon to nearly all the important charities of the the field. He recei\-ed official recognition from 
ci unty. Within a few _\ears his fame as a sur- the war dci)artment fur meritorious service in 
geon extended e\en beyond the confines of the surgical work din-ing the Cuban campaign .and 
great northwest. Dr. Senn was actively en- for scientilic stud\' nf t\phoid fe\cr among- the 
gaged in professional work in MiKvaukee for troops. 



several years. 



In 1S78 desiring to come in contact 



ith 



scholars and investigators in medical science in 
Europe, he went abroad and studied for a year 

29 



A mere mention of Dr. Scnn's publications 
will indicate to some extent their scope and 
value. Among them are the fi'lldwing, all of 
which are accepted as high autln irities, not only 



624 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



in America, but in Europe: "Principles of 
Surgery," "Experimental Surgery," '"Surgical 
Bacteriolog}-," "Intestinal Surgery," "Tubercu- 
losis of the Bones and Joints," "The Pathology 
and Surgical Treatment of Tumors," and 
"Tul>erculosis of the Genito-Urinary Organs," 
and then his great wurk just cnm])]eted. "Prac- 
tical Surgery." 

Dr. Senn has conferred a lasting benefit on 
Chicago and the west generally by his presenta- 
tion to the Newbury Library of tlie famous 
Senn collection of rare medical works. A large 
share of these were gathered from year to year 
by himself, Ijut the must valuable portion of them 
constituted at tnie time llie library of the cele- 



brated Dr. William Baum, late professor of sur- 
gery in the University of Gottingen, antl one of 
the founders of the German Congress of Sur- 
geons. This collection of rare books, the result 
of half a century of careful acounmlation. were 
saved from the fate of a public auction bv Dr. 
Senn, and were donated, together with his own 
extensive library, to the Newberry Library, 
where they are separately shelved and catalogued 
and known as the "Senn Collection." Recently 
he purchased and presented to the Newberry Li- 
brary the library of the famous physiologist, Du 
Bois Raymond, of Berlin, Germany. Dr. Senn 
has just recently taken one of his "active rests," 
or vacation bv making a trii> around the world. 



HON. LUCIEN BONAPART CASWELL 

FORT ATKINSON, WIS. 



Lncien B. Caswell, a distinguished citizen of 
Wisconsin, widely known as a lawyer and states- 
man, was born at Swanton, Venuont, November 
27, 1827. He is a son of Beal and Betsey Cas- 
well, nee Chapman. His grandfather on his ma- 
ternal side was a Revolutionary soldier, and his 
father was a farmer, who died when our sul)ject 
was three years of age. 

In 1837 ^1^' with his uKjther and stepfather, 
Mr. Augustus Churchill, moved to Rock comity, 
Wisconsin, then a wild country. Constant per- 
sonal attempts at self-instruction enabled Mr. 
Caswell to enter Milton Academy, and later he 
took a few terms at Beloit College, which latter 
institution conferred upon him the tlegree of 
A. M. He was twenty-three when he began to> 
study law under the late Hon. Matthew Cari>en- 
ter. In 1851 he was admitted to the bar. In 
1852 he commenced the practice of his profession 
in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, where he has re- 
sided until tlie present lime. ha\ing continuously 
practiced in all the courts of the state and the 
supreme court of the United States. 



Mr. Caswell has been a Republican since 
i860. In 1855 and 1856 he served as district at- 
torney, and in 1863 became a member of the state 
legislature of Wisconsin. From September, 
1863, to May 5, 1865, he was also commissioner 
of the second district board of enrollment of the 
state, and actively engaged in recruiting the 
army. 

In 1868 he was a delegate to the natiijnal Re- 
publican convention held at Chicago, which nomi- 
nated General U. S. Grant for his first term. In 
1872 and 1874 Mr. Caswell again ser\ed as a 
member of the Wisconsin state legislature. In 
the latter year he was elected a meml>er of the 
forty-fourth congress, and re-elected to the forty- 
fifth, forty-sixth and forty-seventh congresses. 
In 1882 his county was set on to the first district 
and he was not returned to the forty-eighth con- 
gress. The following terms, however, he was 
elected in the first district and served through 
the sessions of the forty-ninth, fiftietli and fifty- 
first congresses, making fourteen years in all. 
Congressman Caswell entered upon his duties as 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



627 



a congressman willi zeal and was sonii recognizetl 
as a man nf aliility. In the fi irt_\-sevcnth con- 
gress he secnred the pass^vge ot the law changing 
the rate of postage from three to two cents. For 



portance in his state and district. In iS(>^ he was 
one 111 the founders of the First National Banl 
of Fort Atkinson, and has heen connected with 
its management for years; was cashier for 



the last six years he was on the committee on twenty-five years and then A'ice-president. 
judiciary. In 1867 lie was the prime mover in the or- 

In the fiftieth and fifty-first congresses he ganization of the Northwestern Alanufacturing 

took an active part in the bills creating the cir- Company, capital twenty-five thousand dollars, 

cuit court of appeals, to relieve the labors of the since increased to two hundred thousand dollars, 

supreme court. He was the author of the direct He was one of the founders of the Citizens' State' 

ta.x bill for the refunding, to the states, of fiftee Bank, which opened for business February 18, 

million five hundred thousand dollars, by which 1884. 

the state of Wisconsin recovered four hundred Mr. Caswell was married August 7, 1855, to 

and forty-four thousand dollars. Miss Elizabeth H. Ma}-, of Fort Atkinson, who 

In the fifty-first congress he was chairman of died January 31, 1890. There are six children 

tlie committee on private land claims and secured by their marriage : Chester A. : Isabella, wife 

the passage of a law creating a court for the ad- of Guy L. Cole, of Beloit; Lucien Pj.. Ir. : George 

justment of the Spainsh and [Mexican land \\'. ; Elizabeth Alay, now ]\Irs. Dr. F. J. Perry, of 

grants, which had been before congress for over Fort Atkinson: and Plarlow O. March 10, 1898, 

forty years. Mr. Caswell married Miss Anna R. Rogers, 

Mr. Caswell has always been found in connec- daughter cif the lale Rev. Eart(.)n F. Rogers, of 

tion with enterprises of great scope and im- Fort Atkin.son, Wisconsin. 



HON. THOMAS M. JETT, M. C. 

HILLSBORO, ILL. 

Hon. Thomas M. Jett, member of congress of Bond and .Miintgcinerv until he was twenty 
from the eighteenth district of Illinois, state's years of age, after which he attended the Nortli- 



attorney and lawyer, is a man of distinction in 

his section of the state and stands high in the 

esteem of his fellow citizens in Hill,sl>oro. He 

is one (if the eminent lawyers of 

the Illinois bar, where his ability 




ern Indiana Normal School, \'alparaiso, Indiana. 
After leaving scIkioI he taught school for three 
terms and read law w ith Judge Phillips, of Hills- 
boro, Illinois, Iieing adnntted to the practice of 
his profession in ^lay, 1887. Two years later 
lias long been recognized by the he was elected state's attorney of jMontgomery 
profession and bench. county and served two terms, covering a period 

Thomas Marion Jett was of eight years. He is now serving his third term 
born on a farm in Bond county, as member of congress, having been elected to 
Illinois, May i, 1862. He is the the fifty-fifth, fifty-sixth and fifty-seventh con- 
son of Stephen J. Jett and Nancy gresses. He is a representative Democrat,! 
fBooher') Jett. He attended the always active and alert, and contributes much to 
common schools of the counties the strength of his partv. Mr. Jett is a member 



628 



PROMIXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



of sex'eral sucities; he is a member nf the Ma- 
son ie crder. a Kni,^hts Templar, a Knight of 
I'vthias, a \\'i)(.ihnan, h'.lk anil nther (irders. 



Mr. Jett was married December 24. 1889. to 
Miss ]\b)llie Clntfeltes. They have two children, 
Ross W. and .Marimi C. 



HON. SHELBY MOORE CULLOM 

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. 



Hon. Shelbv M. Cullom. senati r trim Illi- 
nois, was lj(jrn at Munlicelln. Kentncky. Xovem- 
ber 22. 1820. His father, Hon. R. X. Culli)ni. 
was a farmer, who moved with his family to Illi- 
nois in 1830. Young Cullom grew up with a 
thorough knowledge of the humble fare an 1 
rough work incident to farm life in a compara- 
tivelv new country. Having early formed the 
l)urpi se lit devoting himself to the profession cf 
law. he s])ent two years in study at the Rock 
River Seminary, Mount ]\Iorris, Illinois, sup- 
porting hintself by giving a portion of his time 
to teaching. In 1853 he entered the law office of 
Stuart it Edwards at Springfield, Illinois, and in 
1855 began the practice of his professiun in that 
citv, of which he was soon elected attorney, 
thereby being brought into constant contact with 
such lawyers as Ste])hen T. Logan, John T. 
Stuart, .\braham Lincoln, B. S. Edwards, John 
A. McClernand and others. His pleas in the cir- 
cuit cmu't bespoke haljits of close application and 
exhibited logic and conciseness. The Civil war 
causing much new litigatiun, 'Mv. Cullom found 
himself during that period jxissessed of a yearly 
inc(;me of twenty thousand d('llars. But lie had 
alrcadv entered the political field, having been 
elected a member of the Illinois house of repre- 
sentatives in 1836. Identifying himself with the 
newlv formed Repulilican party, he was re-elected 
in 1860, although a majm-ity of his constituents 
were of the opjiosite pnlilical allegiance. H;s 
party having then a majority in that organiza- 
licn. he was at once chosen speaker of the house. 



being at that time the youngest member upon 
whom this honor had been conferred in the his- 
tory of the state. 

In 1862 President Lincoln appi inted liim. in 
conjunction with Governor Boiitwell. i.f Massa- 
chusetts, and Charles A. Dana, of Xorfolk. a 
commissioner to examine and pass upon the ac- 
ci-unts of the L'nited States quartermasters anc'f 
disbursing officers. In 1864 he received the nom- 
ination for congress and was elected by a ma- 
ji rity of seventeen hundred and eighty-five 
against his old law preceptor, the Hon. John T. 
Stuart. In the house of representatives he lie- 
came an active and aggressive member. He 
heartilv favored the thirteenth, fourteenth and 
fifteenth amendments to the United States con- 
stitution, and in the memorable contest Ijetween 
the legislati\e and executive branches of the 
ciiuntrv gave unwavering su|jport to the con- 
gressional pidicv of reconstruction. As chairman 
I if the committee on territories he first recognized 
the necessity of dealing severely with the prac- 
tice of polygamy in Utah, and intri'duce<l a bill 
containing stringent measures fur its suppression, 
which pa>sed the house. He was re-elected in 
1866 and i8('i8. In 1872 he was again returned 
as a member of the state legislature and again 
elected speaker of the Illinois house of rejiresen- 
tatives. He was re-elected to the assembly in 
1874. In the centennial year of 1876 he was 
elected governor of Illinois, and in the adminis- 
tratiiin of that office faithfully endeavored to 
keep public cx]ienditures within due bounds, to 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



631 



extinguisli the state's hulehledness and tn exer- 
cise intelligent super\'isiiin uvtv the ses'eral state 
irstitutions. At the end of his first term he was 
chusen U) a second, the first instance of snch r'c- 
election in the state. He ser\cd until Eehruary 
5, 1883, when he resigned. ha\ing heen elected 
to the United States senate to succeed David l)a- 
\is. 

Senator Culloni was a delegate to the national 
Republican convention at Philadelphia in 187J, 
being chairman of tlie Illinois delegation, and 
piaced General Grant in nomination : was a dele- 
gate to the national Republican convention in 
1884, and chairman of the Illinois delegation; 
was re-elected United States senator in 1888, 



1S94 and again in lyoo; was a member <if the 
commission appninted tn prep;u"e a s_\-stem of 
laws for the Hawaiian Islands. 

.Senatiir Cullom was married in December, 
1855, at Springfield, Illinois, tu Miss Hanna M. 
Eisher, who died in 1861, leaving two daugh- 
ters, Ella and Catherine. Ella l>ecame the wife of 
^\'illiam Barret Ridgely, of Springfield, Illinois, 
now comptroller of currency of the United 
States, while Catherine married Robert Gordon 
Hardie, an artist of distinction in New York. 
She died May 17, 1894. Some years after his 
wife's death Mr. Cullom married her younger 
sister, Miss Julia Eisher. Two* children were 
born of this union, Init both died in infancy. 



HON. GEORGE MARTIN CURTIS 

CLINTON, IOWA 



Georo-e M. Curtis, manufacturer, member ol 
congress, banker and senior member of the lirni 
of Curtis Brothers & Company, the largest man- 
nfactiir\' of sash, doors, blinds, etc., in the 
wnrld, was l)iirn at ()xfnrd, Chenango covmty. 
New York, April 1, 1844, itnd is a son of John 
S. and Elizabeth Carpenter Curtis. He was 
educated at the common schools of his native 
town and at Mount Morris Seminary, at IMount 
Mnrris, Illinois. In 1862 and 1863 he taught 
school during the winter months and helped his 
father on the farm in the summer. In 1864 and 
1865 he clerked in a store at Rochelle, Illinois, 
and in 1865 to 1867 was a dial merchant at 
Courtlaufl, Illinois, and since 18^)7 has been en- 
gaged in the manufacture of doors, sasli, blinds, 
etc.. the ciimpany's name lieing Curtis Brothers 
& Company. He is vice-president and director 
of the City National Bank of Clinton, Iowa, and 
director of the b'irst National Bank, Dewitt, Iowa. 

Mr. Curtis enlisted in 1864 but was rejected 



on account of ph_\-sical disability; was a mem- 
ber of the loiwa state legislature in 1887 and 
1888, and as a Republican was elected tu con- 
gress in 1894, against a Democratic majorit\- <>{ 
nine thousand, and re-elected in 1896: was ten- 
dered the nominatiiin again in 1898, but declined. 
He was a delegate to the Republican national 
con\-entiou in 1892 anil again in 1896. He is a 
Mason, and attained the thirty-second degree in 
1871; memlier of the commanderv and ex-emi- 
nent commander {nv twelve years ; master of Rose 
Croi.x Chapter of bnva Consistory Masons. He 
has traveled extensively lioth in Europe and 
America. 

Mr. Curtis was married Sejitemlier 4, 1872, 
to Miss Ettie Lewis. Thev had four children 
born, tw'O living", George L. Curtis, married in 
!\fay, 1900, to Miss Frances \Mlcox, and Eugene 
J. Curtis. 

Mr. Curtis is a man of prominence in his 
city and state, and has gained eminence in bulh 



632 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



political and business affairs. His life has been interested in the welfare of his city and state and 
active and has been crowned with a degree of is always foremost in any movement tending in 
success that is attained by but few. He is much that direction. 



HON. CHARLES 

MUSKOGEE, 

Judge Charles W. Kayniund was burn at Du- 
buque, Iowa, the son of Capt. William .M. and 
Mary E. Raymond. His father, while captain 
of Company E, Fifty-second Indiana Volunteer 
Infantry, lost his life at the battle (if Nashville. 
Young Charles being left witlmut a father or an 
estate, was by tlie motlier put upon a larni in 
Woodford county. Illinois, when he was twelve 
years of age, under an agreement tlial be should 
work for his board and clothing until he was 
twenty-one years of age, when a team and tann- 
ing utensils should be given him, with which to 
begin the battle of life. After serving an appren- 
ticeship oi four years the young man Ijecame de- 
sirous of obtaining an education, and followed 
his mother to Onarga, Illinois, where be entered 
the public schools. While here during vacation 
be worked as tow Ixjy in the flax mill, earning 
enough money with which to finish liis common- 
school education. He next taught school and 
studied higher branches at Grand I'rairie Semi- 
nary at Onarga. He then removed to Watseka. 
the county seat, and obtained work in the county 
clerk's office at one dollar and a cpiarter a day. 
He then became court bailiff, dei)uty county 
clerk, deputy circuit clerk, master in chancery and 
county judge, holding court for a time in Chicago 
for Judge Carter. 

He and President McKinley were warm 
friends and acc|uaintances from the fall of 1885. 
When the campaign for delegates to the national 
convention at St. Louis was on, the president 
asked him to stand as one of the delegates from 



W. RAYMOND 

IND. TER. 

the twelfth congressional district. He at once 
took i)art in the campaign, and was one of the 
leaders in the fight for McKinley instructions at 
the Illinois state con\-ention in the spring of 
i8g6. At that time he was president of the Re- 
publican League of Illinois, and contributed 
much to adwuice the interests of McKinlev in that 
slate. As soon as Mr. McKinley became presi- 
dent he tendered to Mr. Raymond the position of 
United States ci\il service commissioner, which 
had formerlv been filled b\- Theodore Roose\'elt. 
Tliis position Mr. Raymond declined, desiring to 
devote his entire time to the practice of law. He 
was admitted to the 1)ar in 1886, and became one 
of the leading lawyers in Illinois, and was named 
by President IMcKinley as judge of the United 
States court for Indian Territory in June, 1901, 
and at once entered upon his duties, with official 
lieadquarters at Muskogee, Indian Territory. 
His name was sent to the senate l>y President 
Roosevelt and at once c(jnfirmcd. 

^Ir. Raymond has for the last twenty years 
taken a leading part in the political campaigns of 
Illinois, and made speeches for the Republican 
])nrty in nearly every county of his state. He is 
a great friend of Congressman Cannon, in whose 
district be resides. 

He is a member of the Illinois Commandery. 
Sons of American Revolution, and was one of 
the delegates to the national convention in New 
York city in iQCO, and also at Pittsburg in 190T. 
He is a member of the Loyal Legion, and belongs 
to the Illinois Commanderv. 




^Wju^r^c 



<X-Ky 



-C 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



635 



HENRY MARSHALL COBURN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Henry M. Cobiirn, a prominent meml)er of and is a son of Henry and Elizabetli (Cliittick) 
the Cook county bar, has been actively engaged Coburn. His fatlier was a native of Crane, 
in the practice of law in Chicago since 1887. County Wexford, Ireland, born there in 1824, 
His clientele is large and he has appeared in and who' came to America in 1848. first settling 
manv important cases all over the United States. 
As a representative Democrat 

his strength and influence is 

widely felt in political circles. 

He was his party's candidate for 

judge of the circuit court at the 



in Canada and then in Illinois. 

Henry M. Coburn was educated in the public 

schools and at the Englewood high school. He 

then tauglit in the schools of Cook county for 

several years, did newsjiaper work, studied law, 

and was adiuitted to the bar in 1887, and was 

election held June 7, 1897, and later licensed to practice before the United States 

was defeated by only a fe\v votes, court and court of a])peals. He has appeared in 

the cause of the defeat being the many important cases, now matters of record. 

"mixed ticket" put up. He was He is very strong as a jury lawyer, has a large 

also the candidate for state sen- business, and is much sought after as a consult- 

ator in 1900 in the eighth senatorial district, oue ing lawyer. 

of the Republican strongholds. Mr. Coburn was married July 17, 1890, to 

Henry Al. diburn was born at the town of Miss Adeline Palmer, a daughter of Captain 
Lyons, Cook county, Illinois, Octoljer 15, 1885, Palmer. 




WILL H. LYFORD 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Mr. Will H. Lyford, general counsel for the 
Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Company, 
has won distinguished honors in professional life, 
and in public and pri\ate commands the uniform 
regard of all with whom he has been brought in 
contact. 

Mr. Lyford was born September 15, 1858, 
in Waterville, Maine, being a sou of Oliver S. 
Lyford, \ice-president of the Chicago & Eastern 
Railroad Company. He was educated in the 
public schools of Buffalo and Cleveland. ;uid 
graduated from the high school in the latter city 
in 1879. He then entered Colby University, of 



Waterville, Alaine, where he graduated in 1879. 
Immediately afterwards he came to Chicago and 
eiUered the railway service as civil engineer, lie- 
coming later chief clerk in the office of the man- 
ager of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad 
Company. 

In i88_', through jjersonal connection with an 
important chancery suit, he l)ecame intereste;d in 
the study of law, and entered the law department 
of the railway company with which he is now 
connected. In 1884 he was admitted to practice 
at the l>ar of Illinois, and in the following year 
was appointed assistant general solicitor of tho 



636 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Cliicago & Eastern Illimiis Ivailroad Company. 
January i, 1888, he was made j^eneral solicitor, 
and on Mardi 15. j8(>2. 1)ecamc i^eneral cimnsel 
of the road, and this important position he has 
since licld. Mr. Lyford has made a close study 
of railroad law, miw recog-nized as one of the 
most important and intricate departments of the 
science of jurisjirudence, and has conducted some 
notable litigation, his efforts being crowned with 
success for the corporation which he represents. 
He never loses sight of any detail bearing upon 
his case, at the same time giving the more prom- 



inent i>oints due importance. His knowledge of 
law is exact, his preparation of a case painstak- 
ing, and his piiwer befurc judge and iur\' 
acknowledged by all. He stands high at the bar, 
where his great earnestness and force i.f n^anner 
give him an almost irresistible influence. 

Mr. Lyford was married (jn the 28th of April, 
1886, to Miss Mary IMcCmnas, of Nebraska City, 
Nebraska. 

He is a member of the Chicago Club and the 
Chicago Athletic Association, and in politics is a 
Republican. 



JOHN ELLIS GILMAN, M. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



It was in 1638 that the prngcnitnr i.f the 
American branch nf the Ciilman family came over 
from Old England and settled in New England, 
and its members, of stanch Puritan stock, com- 
menced almiist immediately to becnmc real fac- 
tors in the progress of the new cmnUry. Dur- 
ing the Revolution, Nicholas Oilman was a mo\-- 
ing spirit of the times, having served as a mem- 
ber of the continental congress, and subsequently 
was chosen as I'nited States senator from New 
I lanipsliire. John Taxlor (iilman was go\ernor 
of the (iranile state for fourteen years during the 
last portion of the eighteenth and the lirst of the 
nineteenth century. 

Dr. (iilman's immediate ancestors were pio- 
neers of the pioneer territory of the northwest, 
his grandfather, Bartholomew Oilman, locating 
at Belpre, not many miles soutliwest of AL'irietta. 
Afterward be removed to Kentucky, but not be- 
fore the birth of his son, J(/hn C. Oilman, the 
father of the son in whom we are now most inter- 
ested. 

That child, John E. (lilnian. was liorn at Har- 
luer, a suburb of -Marietta, on the 24th of July, 



1841, and it seemed predestined that he should be 
a physician. His father was a member of the 
profession and he had the inifuence of example 
from his mother's family. Formerly Miss Eliza- 
beth C. Fay, she came from an old historic Massa- 
chusetts family, her sister, Catherine l*"ay, l>eing 
for many years an Indian missionary and fonuider 
of the system of county orphan asylums in the 
state of Ohio. But the fact that may lia\ e had a 
bearing upon the future of the boy John, aside 
from his father's wishes and directions, was that 
of the eleven I"ay children of his mother's gen- 
eration three of the daughters married physicians. 
His uncle. Dr. George Oilman, was also for many 
}-ears a leading meml)er of the profession in Lex- 
ington, Kentucky, and his elder Imther, previous 
tc> entering the ministry, practiced medicine for 
some time at ^Marietta. 

When he was five years of age Dr. Oilman's 
parents removed to Westboro, ^lassachusetts, 
and, although they returned to Marietta for a 
time, the boy received his eaidy education in the 
school of the former town. By the time he was 
seventeen he had been graduated from the high 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



639 



SL-liiHiI, ])re|);irccl I'nr ciHeq-e, scr\c<l an ai)])rcn- 
ticcshi]) at piaiin niakiiij;' in LJostnn and dhtaincd 
quite a isnuwledt^e of nuisic, as well as of medi- 
cine and snrq-cry. At this perind df his life his 
father died, and, thmwn npnn his own resources, 
he taught music fi>r almnt three }eru-s. In i<Sr)i he 
returned ti> Marietta, where he ai^'ain turned his 
musical and mechanical knowledge to account in 
the conduct oi a piano store. 

It is evident, however, that his ultimate aim 
was to establish himself in the profession whicli 
his father and so nian\' nf his relatives liad Imu- 
ored, since, while conducting" his business at 
Marietta, he continued his medical studies with 
his brother, and when he subsequentlv rennned 
to Toledo and followed the same mercantile pur- 
suit he found a medical instructor in the jierson 
of Dr. George Hartwell. After thus employing 
three years of his time he embarked in several oil 
speculations at Marietta, and then settled down 
in earnest to make a name for himself in the med- 
ical profession. 

Contrary, ho'we\-er, (n the instruction of his 
father and that of the se\'eral i-.ther prece])tors 
who had guided his studies, the young man 
evinced his originality of mind and independence 
of spirit by deciding to adnjjt the jirinciples of the 
liomeopathic school. Coming to Chicag^O' in 
1867, he entered Hahnemann Medical College, 
receiving his degree therefrom in the spring of 
1871. He at once established himself in prac- 
tice at the old Crosby Djiera House, his abilities 
l)eing quicklv and substantiallv recngnizefl. and 
he was one of the originators of the art gallery 
which attracted so many to the opera house. 

Naturally. Dr. Gilman shared materially in 
the benefits derived bv the managers of the opera 
hduse in this influx of fashion and wealth. ;ind 
at the time of the great fire h;id made ra])id 
strides toward popnlarity and prosperity. But 
that wholesale calamitv was also his priwUe mis- 
fortune and all bis worldly possessions went u\) 



with the llames. Vastly to his credit, however, 
he w;is the lirst phxsician in the cit)- tn offer his 
services to the citizens' relief cummillee, being 
apjKiinted chairman of the medical department, 
hi this capacity he organized the burnt territory 
iuli) districts, ap]3ointed the i)hysicians in charge, 
instituted the upeniug of hospitals and (lis])eusar- 
ies, attending personally to the relief of sufferers 
temporarily sheltered in the Eighth rresbyterian. 
Tark Avenue and American Reformed churches 
until the management of the work was assumed 
by the Chicago Relief and .\id Society. During 
the frillowing winter and sjiring', as secretarv of 
the Chicago Relief and Aid Society and I'hvsi- 
cians of the Herrick Free Dispen.sary, Dr. (iil- 
n-an added to his laurels both as a physician and 
man. 

In 1883 Dr. (iihiian was elected tn the chair 
of physiology, sanitary science and hygiene of 
Hahnemann Medical College, holding that ])ro- 
fessorship for a decade, when (in 1893) he was 
called to the Materia ]\[edica in the same insti- 
tution. ]]oth as a priwite practitioner and ])ublic 
educator, therefore, for the jiast ipiarler of a 
century his reputation has been continually grow- 
ing until it now ])laces him in the front rank of 
homeopathic jiliysicians in the west. 

Few members of the ]irofession. outside their 
chosen field, have made so fair a mark in litera- 
ture as Dr. Gilman. His contributions to medical 
literature have been many and highly valued, and 
holli as an authority and a writer on art matters 
he has made quite a name for himself. Not onlv 
has he l)een thus identified with the Chicago press 
as a contributor hut was for some time, in coni- 
pan_\- with Joseph Wright, editor of the Chicago 
.Art Journal. It follows also, as a matter of 
Course, tha.t his associations with the medical so- 
cieties of the school of which he is so distin- 
guished a representative is both wide and inti- 
mate. 

In Jul\-, i8r)0. Dr. Gilman was married at 



640 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Adrian, Michigan, to Miss Mary D. J<;ihnson, of family. They liavc mie sim, WilUam T. Gihnan, 
Westboro, Massaclniselts. They were friends of wlio is also a graduate in medicine and in prac- 
vouthful davs, his wife also being of a Puritan tice in the city of Chicago. 



ANDREW J. RYAN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




Andrew J. Ryan, ex-city attorney, ranks 
among the ablest lawyers of Chicago, and has 
won distinguished honors at the bar. He is a 
representative Denn crat. but his pnpularity is 
m t confined to his iavu party. Without solici- 
tation on his own jmrt. as he was 
in ni; sense a candidate, he was 
cbi sen as his party's representa- 
tive fi r city attorney, was elected. 
:ind also rc-clccted in .April. 1901. 
wlien he resigned to resume his 
])rivale practice. His administra- 
tion of the affairs of the office 
was able and forceful, and credit- 
able alike to his jiarty and his 
friends. The ability and integrity which so- sig- 
nally characterize the discharge of his profes- 
sional obligations, has made him known, in a few 
short 3'ears, as one of the must snlid and reliable 
attorneys in the city. 

Andrew J. Ryan was born in Cliicago De- 
cember 29, 1869, and is the son of William F. 
and Ellen (Farrell) Ryan. His father was a 
native of Ti])perary, Ireland, and came to the 
United States in 1S58, settling at Schenectady, 
New York, where he was in tlie railroad Inisi- 
ness for a few vears. He later removed to Chi- 
cago, where he died in 1874. His widow is still 
]i\ing in this city. 

Andrew J. Ryan attended the i)ublic schools 
until nine years of age, when the feeling that 
he ought to do something to assist in the support 
of the family, his father being dead, determined 
him to seek employment. His first pcjsition was 



with the firm of Field, Leiter & Company, in 
the capacity of errand boy. After two years 
and a half he ga\e this up and entered the em- 
ploy of The Farmer's Re\iew, a paper published 
in. Chicago, remaining two years, before accept- 
ing a position with Lyon & Healey as department 
cashier. He was promoted from time to time 
until when he left this firm in 1893, after ten 
vears' service, he held the responsible position 
of credit man. He gave up this lucrative posi- 
tion to fulfill his long cherished ambition of de- 
voting his talents and energies to the pursuit of 
law. During- the time he was with Lyon & 
Healey he attended the night law ci 'liege of the 
Lake Foi'est University, from which he gradu- 
ated June I, 1891. Two years later he liegan the 
active practice of his profession, which be has 
continued ever since. His success has been bril- 
liant and enduring, as he possesses those (piali- 
ties and the force of character which in any sjibere 
of life command success. 

Mr. Rvan is a leading member and officer in 
manv fraternal and barevolent societies, among 
them l)eing tlie Rnyal League. Knights of Co^ 
lumlnis and other kindred societies. He was at- 
torney for the ^^'est Town Board in 1894, and 
is now director of the Chicago Pulilic Library. 
He was for five years state secretary of the Cath- 
olic Benevolent Legion, and has also assisted to 
organize and place on a solid foundation several 
other benevolent enterprises. 

Mr. Ryan was married Augtist 26. 1896, to 
Miss Nellie T. Cahill, the well-known contralto 
singer of St. Patrick's church. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



041 



HARRY F. ATWOOD 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



I\Ir. Harry F. Atwood, assistant state's at- 
turney of Chicago, was born on a farm near 
Morgan Park, Illinois, January i, 1870, and is 
a son of Orville E. and Martha E. (Townsend) 
Atwood. 

His early education was re- 
ceived at a district school and 
later at the Illinois Military 
Acadeniw where he liecanie ca])- 
tain I if Ci mpany A. Com])leting 
his course in this institution he 
entered the Uni\-ersit_\' of Chi- 
cago, fnim which he graduated 
in 1897. During his course he 
. - ^ was elected president of the De- 

bating St>ciety, the Oratorical Association and i)f 
the Northern Oratorical League, winning several 
prizes in oratorical contests and deliates. He 
subsequently took up the study of law and grad- 
uated from tlie Illinois College of Law and the 
Chicago College of Law. 




After receiving his diploma he located at 
Seattle, Washington, and there was associated 
with the well-known law hrm of Kerr & Mc- 
Cord. Since his return to Chicago he has prac- 
ticed individually up to the time he accepted his 
present position of assistant state's attorney. 

Mr. Atwood was one of the first to volunteer 
at the breaking out of the Spanish-American 
\\ar, and was made a sergeant (if the First Illi- 
nois Volunteer Caxalrv. He is a member nf se\'- 
eral clubs and social organizations, a member of 
the Illinois State Bar Association, Chicago Bar 
Association, Hamilton Club, Cook County 
Marching Club, and the Masnnic fraternit}', and 
is widely known in ci.iUege. political and legal 
circles. He has taken an active part in Republi- 
can affairs for several years, making speeches 
in local campaigns, and in 1900 .^tumped the 
state of Washington. He now resides in one 
of Chicago's line residence suburbs, Morgan 
Park. 



MORITZ ROSENTHAL 

CHICAGO. ILL. 



Moritz Rosenthal was born at Dixon, Illinois, 
]\Iay 4, ]866. and is a son of Samsim and Miiia 
(Calm) Rosenthal. He was educated at the pub- 
lic and high schools of Dixon and in the literary 
department of the University of Michigan. He 
studied law with ]\lr. Williaiu Ijarge, of Dixon, 
and was admitted to the bar and began practice 
in 1890. He came to Chicago in 1891, and was 
associated with Mr. William S. Forrest, the noted 
criminal lawyer, from 1891 to 1897, and then 
became a member of the firm of Moses, Rosenth.al 
& Kennedy. 



Mr. Rosenthal is a young man, but has been 
counsel in manv celebrated cases, among them the 
Debs case, and more recentlv in th*" celebrated 
board of trade bucket shop cases, in which he 
with W. S. Forrest and Benjamin Bachrach, de- 
fended McLain Brothers. Mr. Rosenthal was the 
first lawyer called in the case. The first mo\-e he 
made after taking the case was to buv a fen-day 
membership in the board of trade and study the 
workings of the board. He thus learned by prac- 
tical experience the whole workings of the entire 
routine. He scored a great triumph in cross- 



642 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



examination of witnesses in the McLain case, ex- I\Ir. Rosenthal is a meml>er of the Iroquois 

amining' all Init twf. and every one of the hundred Club and the bar associations, and politically is a 

brought forward Ijy the i^rDsecntiun proved tirst- Democrat. 

class witnesses for the defense. Mr. Rosenthal was united in marriage April 

Quick to comprehend and prrmipt to execute. u. 1897, to Miss Virginia, daughter of Mr. 



he is a forceful speaker. 



Adolph Moses. Thev have one son. 



HON. JOSEPH V. QUARLES 



MILWAUKEE. WIS. 



Joseph V. Ouarles, senator frum Wisconsin, 
was horn in the \illage of Southport, now Keno- 
sha, Wisconsin, December 16, 184,^. His father, 
Joseph V. Quarles, Sr., was born in New Hami>- 
shire, and his mother was Miss Caroline Bullen, 
a native of New York. They were among the 
early settlers of Wisconsin, and were married at 
Southport. 

Joseph V. Ouarles attended the public schools 
in his native town and graduated from the high 
school uf Kenosha at the age of seventeen. His 
father was one of the fi Hinders df tlie factory now 
the llain Wagon Ci>mi)any. The jianic of 1857 
forced the former's pre\iinisl\- prosperous busi- 
ness to suspend operations and the father was left 
with scant means to assist his sons in their col- 
lege aspirations. Jnseph taught sclnxil in Keno- 
sha, did literar\' work, burrowed nmney froni 
well-to-do relatives and entered the University of 
Michigan in 1862. While there in the freshman 
year he was elected president of the class, and de- 
livered the oratiiin on class day, ])ut intcrrui)ted 
his course of stuch' in the spring of 1864 to- enter 
the army as a ]n-ivate in the Thirty-ninth Regi- 
ment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry: was ap- 
])ointed first lieutenant of Company C; mustered 
out at the end of his term (if enlistment; returned 
to college, and graduated in 18^)6 with the de- 
gree of A. B., 1>eing chosen tO' deliver one of the 
graduating orations. Having but limited funds, 
he attended the law department of the university 



but one }'ear. and returned ti> his Imme and en- 
tered the law office of Mr. (). S. Head, ime of the 
oldest practitioners of the state. 

Mr. Ouarles was admitted to the bar in 1868 
and then formed a partnership with ]Mr. Head, 
the firm being Head & Ouarles. Mv. Head being 
advanced in j-ears, and wcll-td-do, declined the 
more active duties of the firm, and ]\Ir. Ouarles 
was soon called into the higher courts. During 
his association with ]\Ir. Head, until his death in 
1875, Mr. Ouarles was district attorney for Keno- 
sha cijunt\' si.x years. In 1876 was elected mayor 
of Kenosha: declined ren<>mination : was ])resi- 
dent of the board of education in 1877 and 1878; 
member of the assembly in 1879, and rq>resented 
Kenosha antl W'alworth comities in the state sen- 
ate from 1880 tO' i88j. In the United States .sen- 
atorial contest of 1881 he received a very flatter- 
ing vote, but insisted on having his name with- 
drawn. At the expiration of his term of office 
he moved to Racine and formed a partnership 
with lohn B. ^^'inslll\v. the firm being dissoK'ed 
on the elevation of Air. Winslow to the bench. 
A year later T. \\'. Spence removed to Racine 
from Fond du Lac and became associated with 
ATr. Ouarles. under the firm name of Ouarles & 
.Spence. which later, on the rulmissinn of a son of 
fudge Dver, became Ouarles, Spence & Dyer. 
In 1888 the firm moved to Milwaukee and began 
a successful career under the name Ouarles, 
Spence & Ouarles, Mr. Ouarles' yoimger brother 



PROMIXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 645 

l_>eing admitted to tlie firm. It is iinw one of the His term (;f oftice will expire March 3, 190^. 

leadin,^- tinns in the state. In 1868 he was united in marriage to Miss Carrie 

Senator Ouarles was elected to the United A. Saunders, of Chicago, and they have three 

States senate to succeed John L. Mitchell, Demo- sons, William C, Joseph H. and Edward L. 

crat, and entered upon his duties Alarcli 4, 1899. Ouarles. 



HENRY S. TOWLE 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Mr. Elenry S. Towle, one of the foremost Dent and Goodwin & Lamed. He hecame per- 

lawyers of the Illinois bar and member of the well- mianently associated with the firm last mentioned, 

known legal firm of Offield, Towle & Linthicum, being admitted as a partner in 1869, under the 

has long been prominentK' identified with one of firm name of Goodwin, Earned & Tnwle. His 

the most impiirtrint branches of law practice. association with this firm initiated him into what 

Air. Towle was born in Mishawaka, Indiana. became a specialty, which he has steadih- [mv- 
■Qctober 10, 1S42. His father was Gilraan Towle, sued, his business for many years having had 
an honored citizen of that state and widely and relation principally to patents, trade-marks and 
favorably known. He married Miss Beekman. copyrights, including all litigation incident 
Both trace their ancestry to patriots of the AmeJ- thereto. Mr. Towle, however, for a number of 
ican Revolution. Henrv S. Tnwle acquired his }'ears was con.nected with practice in ether lines 
])reliminary education at Mishawaka, Indiana, to some considerable extent. On the retirement 
lieing in attendance at the higli school at that of Mr. Earned and the admission of Mr. Charles 
place wlien the country became involved in cix'il K. Offield as a partner, in 1874, the finn of Good- 
war. He made several efforts to secure admis- win, Oftield & Towle almost entireh' gave up 
sion to' the \dlunteer ser\-ice of the government, general practice and gave their attention otilv to 
Ijut was pre\-ented by ill health. Being unwilling the specialties above mentioned. On the death 
to forego any ser'.ice for the assistance of the ijf Mr. Goodwin the other two partners contin- 
go\-ernnient, he became C(jnnected with a sani- ued the Ijusiness relations, and more recently 
tary expedition, whicli was organized under the were joined by Charles C. Linthicum. in the or- 
dircctiim id' (Inxcrni r Mi rton, for the relief of ganization of the present firm of Offield, Towle 
Indiana's s(;]diers in the field. This first ti>ok & Linthicum. The long association of ?^Iessrs. 
liim to the battle grounds of Shiloh and later \o Oilield and Towle indicates congenialitv and an 
other places. agreeable division of laJKr, in which Mr. Towle 

Mr. Towle subsequentK- entered upon a col- has been highly successful and proficient, besides 

legiate course at \'alparaiso, Indiana, and he manifesting abilit\- and business (jualities as well 

pre])are<l fnr the legal profession by attending as :i character for integrit\- rmd rectitude, which, 

the Uni\-ersity of Michigan, and is a graduate of has deservedly brought him into high esteem and 

the law tlei)artment of that institution. He came jirominence. .\s a lawyer he is industrious and 

to Chicago' to enter npin the practice of la\>;, able and enjo\'s the respect and confidence of his 

and in tlie early }'ears of his residence here was associates at the bar. TJie practice of his firm 

■connected with the law firms I'f .\rringtiin '"t in their special lines nf litigation in the federal 



646 



PROAIIXEXT MEX OF THE GREAT WEST 



courts extentls from Boston to San Francisco, 
an.d tlieir clients represent many of the most 
])r(iniineiit interests wiiich depend uiion protec- 
tion under patents and trade-marks, bringing his 
tirm for years into numerous important suits in- 
\ol\ing patents and trade-mark property. 

W'liile the extensive practice of the firm has 
engrossed liis close attention and has brought 
him as well as other members of the firm a wide 
ac(|uaintance with luisiness men and affairs, 
he has all the while manifested a deep interest 
in educational and phi'anthropic work, as well 
as other matters of public interest. He has al- 
ways retained his interest in the University of 
Michigan, having served as president of the Chi- 
cago Alumni Association of that university. He 
has been a trustee of the Northwestern Univer- 
sity for over twenty years. He was one of the 
trustees of the Union College of Law when it 
was a joint department of the old University of 
Chicago and the Northwestern University. He 
has been a factor in the management of the same 
law school since it has been entirely under the 
control of the Northwestern University. ]\Ir. 
Towle has taken special interest in elevating the 
standard of legal education in Chicago, and has 
served as chairman of the committee of trustees 
of the Northwestern University, having charge 



of the law school, formerly the Union College 
of Law. The cause of education has had no 
more earnest advocate in Chicago than the sub- 
ject of this sketch, who has not only for years 
urged a high standard for admission to the bar, 
but has also worked earnestly in endeavoring to 
secure for our city the advantages of the most 
thorough instructi(!n m all the departments of 
uni\ersitv W( I'k. He has given special attention 
to the work of the Chicago Home Missionary, a 
church extension society with which he has been 
connected as a trustee and officer for twenty 
years. He has also been long identified with t!ie 
!\Iethodist Episcopal church and has been active 
in various departments of church work. He 
holds membership in the Chicago^ Bar Associa- 
tion, in connection with which association he has 
served as president. He holds membership in the 
Illinois State P.ar Association and the American 
Bar Association, and is a valued member of the 
Union League Club, as well as the Hamilton 
Club and several other social organizations. 

:\[r. Towle vvas married in 1868 to a daugh- 
ter of Rol)ert F. Oueal, of Evanston, Illinois, 
Tier death occurred in 1881. Li 1884 he mar- 
ried :\Iiss Sarah A. Meacham, of Oak Park, Bli- 
nois, at which place ]\Ir. and Mrs. Towle now 
reside. 



HON. WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON 

DUBUQUE, IOWA 

Hon. William I'.. Allison, senator, was born trict sciiools, where he showed great proficiency 
at Perry, Ohio, March 2. 1829. He was of Irish and eagnerness to learn. \\'hen sixteen years of 
descent, his grandparents ha\-ing emigrated to age he went to the academy at Wc<jster, and sub- 
Pennsylvania, His father, John Allison, was sequently spent a year at Alleghany College in 
born at Bellefonte, Peimsylvania, in 1798, and Zsleadville, Peimsylvania. He next taught school 
moved to Perry, OWuk in 1823, engaging in and spent another year at Western Reserve Col- 
farming, lege, in Hudson. Ohio, and then began the study 

William grew up on his father's farm, which of law at Wooster. In 185 1 he was admitted to 

he assisted in cultivating, and attended the dis- the bar, and soon attained the position of deputy 





^ 




c 



y>h^u^^ ^^^5^9^-, 




^ X 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



649 



county clerk. His puliiical leanings were tmvard 
tlic uld-Inie Whig's, who afterward laiil ihe foun- 
dations of the Republican party. He was a dele- 
gate to the state convention of 1856, and in the 
campaign supported Fremont for president. The 
next year he renKJved to- lo'wa and settled in Du- 
bu<pie, where he has since resided. He rose 
rapidly to prominence at the bar and in polities, 
ar.d in 18O0 w-as chosen a delegate to the Repub- 
lican convetition held in Chicago', of wdiich he 
was elected one of the secretaries, assisting in 
counting the votes wdiich nominated Abraham 
Lincoln l(jr president. When the Civil war 
broke out he was appointed on the staff of the 
governor of Iowa, and rendered etificient aid in 
organizing" and placing" volunteers in the field. 
His congressional career opened in 1862, when 
he was elected to the thirty-eighth congress ; he 



was re-elected three times, to the thirty-ninth, 
fortieth and forty-first congresses, serving from 
March 4, 1863, to March 3, 1871. He declined 
re-election to the lu use in 1871 , and was a promi- 
nent candidate for United States senatorship be- 
fore the Iowa legislature in 1872. He was elected 
and took his seat March 4. 1873. He was re- 
elected in 1879 and again in 18S5. In 188 1 he 
was offered the position of secretary of the treas- 
ury by President Garfield but declined. He was 
a leading" candidate for the presidency in 1888, 
and after the election of ]Mr. Harrison he was 
again offered the treasury portfolio, which he 
again declined. In 1890 the Iowa legislature 
elected him senator for the fourth time, and re- 
elected him again in 1896 and in 1902. 

June 5, 1873, Senator Alli.son married Miss 
Mary Nealley, of Burlington, Iowa. 



WILLIAM J. HYNES 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



William J. Hynes, of Chicago, is without 
doubt one of the great law-yers of the country. 
With few ecjuals in the niceties and perfection 
of pleading, a forceful and eloquent speaker, he 
commands the respect and attention of all the 
courts. Few of the great law- 
vers can show so- long a list of 
professional triumphs. 

William J. Hynes was born 
at Kilkee, County Clare, Ireland. 
.\fter the death of his f;ulier, 
Thomas Hynes, who was a 
well-known architect antl builder, 
'^\v. H)"nes' family came to the 
United States and settled at 
Spring^eld, Massachusetts. On account of the 
early death of his father Mr. Hynes, urged 
l)y a desire tO' assist in the support of his 
mother, entered the office of the Springfield 




Republican, a prominent daily newspaper, and 
tliere learned the printing business, and at 
the same time attended evening school. His 
mother died in 1864, in 1866 he began tlie 
study of law and in the same year entered intO' 
partnership with General John O'Neill in Nash- 
ville, Tennessee. Later he went to- Washington, 
D. C, where he completed his study of law in 
Columbia Law College, while corresponding at 
the same time for se\-eral journals. Air. Hynes 
was admitted to the bar in 1870 and first com- 
menced the practice of his profession at Little 
Rock. Arkansas, where also he wrote reg"ularly 
lor the State Journal. His career as printer and 
journalist covered the ladder from "[irinter's 
dexil" to associate editor. 

In 1872 he was elected on the Greeley ticket, 
by the reform Repulilicans and DemtKrats, con- 
gressman at large to the forty-third congress. 



650 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



In 1875 he came to Chicago and formed a part- qualities liave won him hosts of friends; he is a 
nership with Walter B. Scates, ex-chief justice of 
the supreme court of the state. In i8<So tiie firm 
of Hynes. English i!v; Dunne was organized and 
at once took its place among the principal law 
firms in the city; in 1892, lulw ard .l*". Dunne 
of the firm was elected judge of the circuit court. 
For a considerahlc time Mr. Hynes has been prac- 
ticing alone. He is a Democrat in politics, but 
far too busy a man to accept oflice. His social 



brilliant talker and his rich fund of humor makes 
him a most agreeable com]>anion. He is an 
in\etcrate reader and has a<lded to the fund id" 
information so i^litained bv extensive travels 
in this ciiu.ntry, F.urope, J'-gypt and the Holy 
Land. 

Mr. Hynes was married in September, iSjr, 
tw Miss Jeiniie \\ a\-, daughter nf Judge deorge 
15. Wav, of Ohio. 



HON. DANlEL^ WELLS, Jr. 

MILW.AUKEE, WIS. 



Daniel Wells, Jr., was born July 16, 1808, 
at Waterville, Kennebec county, Maine, and was 
a son of Daniel Wells, a farmer antl cording' and 
cloth dressing mill owner, ot English descent, 
tracing his American origin tO' Thomas Wells, 
who came to .America in 1635 ti'"ni Colchester, 
Essex county, England. 

Mr. Wells passed his boyhood on his father's 
farm and in the mill, attending sclio(jl during the 
winter seasons. He taught school for a time and 
in 1830 invested his savings in a surveying ven- 
ture, and became proficient in the science of sur- 
veying. In 1831 he engaged in Inisiness at Pal- 
myra, Maine. At Palmyra he married Miss 
Alarcia Bryant, daughter of Bezer Bryant, of An- 
son, Somerville county, Mame, November 23, 
1831. While a resident of Maine Mr. Wells held 
offices of justice of the peace, selectman, town 
clerk, asses.sor and oAxrseer of the jioor. He first 
went to Milwaukee in July, 1835, and invested 
largely on his own account and on that of Mr. 
W inthrop W. Gilmrm in lots and lands in what 
is now- the eastern jiart of Wisconsin. He set- 
tled permanently in Milwaukee .\ugust 2, 1836. 
Governor Henry Dodge appointed him justice of 
the peace August 2, 1836. On March 13, 1837, 
he was elected a member of the executive cop.imit- 



tee of the claim organization formed to protect 
the sfjuatter. In 1838 he was one of the trustees 
ftjr the east side of Milwaukee, and on Septem- 
ber 4th of that year was aiiiiointed probate judge. 
In 1842 he was under sherift'. He held many 
other offices antl posts oi honor during those 
early days, among them being a member of the 
legislature and a comniissioner to the Wdrld's 
E.xposition held in Crystal Palace, Londim, in 
1 85 1. 

Politically Mr. Wells was a Wdiig, but later 
supported the Democratic party. He was a mem- 
ber of congress frdui 1833 to 1857 and then de- 
clined re-election. Much of his time was dexdted 
to public matters, and from an early day was a 
promoter of all public im|)rovements. He was 
interested in many large business enterprises, 
held extensive investments in the lumber trade 
and through his earh' purchase i>f land became 
or,e of the largest dealers in real estate. He held 
ofiices and was a director in several liauks and 
railroad companies, always favoring all meas- 
ures tending to the development of the railroads 
c»f the northwest. 

Mr. Wells died in A]iril. 1902, leaving a 
large estate, estimated to be the greatest in Wis- 
consin, to his family, bis friends and to charity. 




-^^^J^ 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



651 



HON. W. A. CLARK 

BUTTE, MONTANA 



W. A, Clark was iDorn on the 8th day of Jan- 
uary, iS.^";, near Connellsville, Fayette connty, 
I'cnnsyhania. Jle is the son of John and Mary 
( Anth'cws) Clark, lidth natixcs of that count}'. 
The father of Jnhn Clark, whose name was also 
John, was a nati\-e of County Tyrone, Ireland, 
who emigrated to this country and settled in 
Pennsylvania soon after the Revolutionary war. 
The grandfather of the suhject of our sketch was 
m;'.rried to Miss Reed, of Chester county, Penn- 
sylvania, wdicse parents were also from the n(jrth 
of Ireland. On the maternal side, \\'illiam and 
Sarah Andrews, tlie grandparents of our suh- 
ject, were also frcjni Ci.iunty Tyrone, Ireland, 
and settled in western Pennsylvania ahout the 
heginning of this century. Sarah Andrews' 
maiden name was Kithcart. She was a descend- 
ant of the Cathcart family who were originally 
Huguenots, and the name became changed to 
I\ithc;irt l)y an error made by a registrar in the 
transfer of a tract of land. The Cathcart fam- 
ily emigrated from France to Scotland at an 
early period, and later moved tO' the north of Ire- 
land. Subsequently they emigrated to- the 
United States and dittcrent Ijranches of the fam- 
ily settled in New York and Pennsylvania. 

The parents of our subject were married in 
Pennsylvania, where they resided until 1856. 
They then moved to \'an lluren county, Iowa, 
where John Clark died in 1873, aged seventy- 
six years. In religious belief he was 1 Presby- 
terian, and an elder in that church for forty 
years before his death. 

Mr. Clark's father was a farmer and his boy- 
hood days were spent on the homestead, where 
he enjoyed the advantages of three months' win- 
ter school, and nine months of such farm work 
as the boy could turn his hand to. At the age 

of fourteen he entered Laurel Ilill Academy, 
30 



and accpiired a good English cduc;ition. In 
1856 his father moved to Iowa, and there Will- 
iam assisted on the farm, teaching a term of 
school the succeeding winter. He then ;ittended 
an academy in Iju-mingham one term, and after- 
wards entered the university at Mount Pleasant, 
becoming a disciple of Blackstone. Here he 
prosecuted his legal studies for two^ years, but 
did not afterward engage in the profession. In 
1859-60 he was teaching school in Missouri. In 
1862 he crossed the great plains, driving a team 
to the South Park, Colorado, and that winter 
worked in the quartz mines in Central City. 

In 1863 the news of the gold discoveries at 
Bannock reached Colorado and Mr. Clark was 
among the first to start for this new El Dorado. 
After sixty-five days' travel with an ox-team he 
arrived at Bannock, just in time to join a stam- 
pede to Horse I'rairie. Here he secured a claim, 
which he worked during this and the following 
season, cleaning up' a net fifteen hundred dollars 
the first summer, wdiich formed the basis of his 
future operations in Montana. During the en- 
suing five years, instead of working in the 
placers be took advantage of the opportunities 
offered for trade and business, and in less than 
b.alf a decade was at the head of one of the 
largest wholesale mercantile establishments in 
the territory, Ijuilt up from the smallest of be- 
ginnings. In February, 1866, Mr. Clark joined 
a stampede to Elk Creek, where he established a 
store and sold goods to' the miners during the 
season. He sold out in the fall and took a trip 
to the Pacific coast, going as far as San Fran- 
cisco. He then returned to ^lontana with a 
stock of goods, which he readily disposed of at 
large profits. 

In October of 1866 Mr. Clark went cast by 
wa}- of Fort Benton and the "Macinaw Route." 



65: 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



After visiting the principal cities ui tiie L'niun, 
including a sojourn in the south, he returned to 
Montana the following year. In iH()j he con- 
tracted to carry the mails on the star route he- 
tween Missoula and Walla W alia, a distance of 
four hundred miles. 

In 1868 he went to New ^■nrk City, and there 
fc'rmed a co-partnershii) with Mr. K. W. Don- 
nell for the purpose of engaging in the wholesale 
mercantile and banking business in Montana, and 
also established an extensive wholesale business 
at Helena. In 1870 the business was transferred 
to Deer Lodge, and consolidated with that of 
Mr. Donnell. At this time Mr. S. E. Larabie 
was admitted, and the tirm became Donnell, 
Clark lit Larabie. They soon closed out their 
mercantile business and gave exclusive attention 
to banking, first at Deer Lodge and at a later 
date at IxJth that place and at Butte City. In 
May, 1884, IMessrs. Clark & Larabie purchased 
the interests of Mr. Donnell in their ^Montana 
business, and subsequently Mr. Clark and his 
brother, James Ross Clark, came into full owner- 
ship of the Butte Bank, disposing of his Deer 
Lodge interests. The banking house- of W. .\. 
Clark & Brother, of Butte City, Montana, has 
since that time grown into one of the strongest 
banking institutions of the west. 

But it is in his mining investments and in the 
operation of vast mills and smelters for the treat- 
ment of base ores that Mr. Clark has made the 
great success of his life. In 1872 he first began 
to give attention to the quartz prospects of Butte. 
In 1880 • he organized the Moulton Company, 
which at once proceeded to the erection of the 
Moulton Mill and the development of the mine. 
W. A. Clark is president of the Moulton, and his 
brother, Josqih K. Clark, manager. The United 
Verde Copper Compan_\-'s property in Arizona, 
owned I)y him. is the wonder of the mining 
world. It is probably the richest and most ex- 
tensive copi)er mine in the world, not excepting 
the Anaconda, Mountain View or any of the big 



properties of Butte. He has completed and 
equipped a railroad to this mine, connecting with 
the Santa Fe system. 

Mr. Clark established the first water systenr 
in Butte, also the first electric light plant. He 
is the owner of the Butte Miner, one of the lead- 
ing daily papers of the state. He also is \)v\n- 
cipal owner and president of the cal>le and elec- 
tric railways of Butte and largely interested in 
m.any other industrial enterprises besides the 
mining and smelting of ores. In 1876 Governor 
Potts appointed him state orator, to represent 
Montana at the Centennial Exhibition. In 1877 
he was elected grand master of the Masonic 
Lodg'e of Montana, and in 1878, during the Nez 
Perce invasion, received the commission of ma- 
jor and led the Butte Battalion to the front 
against Chief Joseph. He was elected a dele- 
gate from Sih'er Bow county to the first consti- 
tutional convention in 1884, being chosen presi- 
dent of that body, in which position he won new 
laurels as a presiding officer and master of parlia- 
mentary law antl tactics. In 1884 he was com- 
missioned by President Arthur as one of the 
commissioners of the World's Industrial and 
Cotton Exhibition at New Orleans. 

In 1888 Mr. Clark received the Democratic 
nomination for delegate to congress, and maile 
a brilliant canvass of the territory, but was de- 
feated. AMien Montana was admi/tted to the 
Union, in 1889, and a second constitutional con- 
\ention was necessary, he was again elected a 
member uf that Ijody, and, as before, was chosen 
its presiding officer, rendering splendid service 
in that capacity. Upon the first legislative as- 
sembly, which convened in Helena in January, 
1890, devolved the duty of electing two United 
States senators. The Democrats elected W. A. 
Clark and Martin Maginnis, and the lvei)ublicans 
W. F. S. Sanders and T. C. Power, Mr. Clark 
receiving the unanimous vote of his party in 
caucus and in joint session. Each presented their 
claims to the United States senate and Alessrs. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



653 



Sanders and I'owcrs were declaretl elected. 
Again a senator was tn he elected ti> succeei! 
Colonel Sanders i)y the legislatnre that enlivened 
in Helena in January, JS93. In this body the 
I'dljulists with three members held the Ijalance of 
l)ower. Mr. Clark again received the Demo- 
cratic caucus nominatiun, but a small contingent 
of l^emocrats refused to go into caucus tjr to 
abide by the decision of the majority. As a con- 
sequence the contest was protracted through the 
entire session of sixty days, and the gavel fell at 
the last joint session with no election for United 
States senator. 

No man in Montana has been more highly 
honored by his party than Mr. Clark, but it re- 
mained for the year 1894 to bring him his great- 
est triumph and most enduring laurels. In this 
year the permanent seat of government of Mon- 
tana was located. In 1892 the first capital con- 
test, in which several towns were entered, re- 
. suited in leaving Helena and Anaconda in the 
field as the only candidates which could lay claim 
to the suffrage of the people. Helena was the 
temporary capital. Anaconda Ijeing the Ana- 
conda Company's candidate, had an immense 
financial backing and enjoyed the advantage of 
a powerful political alliance. For a time it 
seemed that this t(jwn, owned and controlled 1)}' 
one corporation, would win the day. People who 
feared the consequences ni such an outcome were 
without a leadership on which they could lean 
with confidence. Helena forces were without 
organization. At this juncture W. A. Clark cast 
aside all personal and political ambitions and en- 
tered the fight for the people. From the ilay that 
he made his position known through the columns 
of his newspaper, the Butte Miner, until election 
(lav he was the recognized leader of the Helena 
forces. Not only did he contribute liberaly of 
his time and means, but he took the stump and 
addressed the people in the princi]>al cities of the 
state, making a most powerful and eloquent ap- 
peal to their pride and patriotism. Ne\er in the 



history of this or au)^ other state was a battle 
iiKjre intense or e.xciti'.ig; never did the people 
ir,(jre keenly feel that their rights and Iil)erties 
were at stake, and ne\er ilid a citizen receive a 
greater or more siioutaneous ovation than that 
^\hich Mr. Clark enjoyed when, after ha\ing 
un(juestioiial)ly snatched \ictory from defeat, the 
people of the state gathered in thousands at 
Helena to do him honor. The citizens l)ore him 
on their shoulders from his train, placed him in 
a carriage, and then, detachin,g the horses, took 
their places at the pole and triunii)hantlv hauled 
it to the city as a \ictor's chariot. It was a vic- 
tory which easily gives Mr. Clark rank as the 
first citizen of the state, and one of the most 
commanding figures of the west. 

Mr. Clark is extensively engaged in bank- 
ir.g, nnning, manufacturing and various other 
business enterprises; in politics has always been 
a consistent and active Democrat ; was elected 
United States senator January 28, 1899. to suc- 
ceed Hon. Lee Mantle, Republican; a memorial 
was filed in the senate asking that the election of 
Senator Clark he investigated, which was re- 
ferred to the comnnttee on privileges and elec- 
tions; after an investigation a resolution was re- 
ported to the eft'ect that the election was void: 
this resolution was not acted upon by the senate, 
as Senator Clark, in a speech on May 15, 1900, 
stated that he had sent his resignation to the gov- 
ernor of Montana and desired to submit the mat- 
ter to the i)eople of his state, and would abide by 
their verdict; the acting go\ernor of the state im- 
mediately appointed him to fill the \acancy 
created by his resignation, but he did not pre- 
sent himself to be sworn in under the credentials; 
in the Democratic state convention held in .\bin- 
tr.na in September a resolution was unanimously 
adopted demanding bis re-election to the senate, 
and a legislative ticket favoraljle to his re-elec- 
tion was overwhehningly elected in November, 
and on Jaiuiary 16, 1901, he was re-elected for 
the term of six years to succeed the I bm. Thomas 



654 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



H. Carter, and took his seat j\Iarcli 4, 1901. 
His term will expire ^larch 3, 1907. 

In March, 1869, Mr. Clark was married to 
Kate L. Stauffer, a highly accomplished lady of 
Connellsville, rennsyKania. The couple startetl 
tn their wedding day for their distant home in 
the mountains. They made their residence at 
Helena, and here their first child, :\Iary C, was 
l)orn, in January, 1870. Locating that year in 
Deer Lodge, their other children were born in 
this town, with the exception of the youngest 
cl-.ild, Francis Paul, who was Imrn in Paris, 
iM-ance. Six childr , were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Clark, one of them Jessie (twin sister of Kath- 
erine L., now livii i), died in Deer Lodge in 
April, 1888, at the age of three years. The old- 
est, Mary C, was happily married in April, 



1891, to Dr. E. M. Culver, of Xew York City, 
a successful practitioner, and is the mistress of 
a beautiful home in the metropolis. Charles W'., 
th.eir eldest son, is a graduate of Yale College. 
In 1879 Mr. Clark took his family to Paris, 
where they remained three years, all of them be- 
sides himself having accjuired a thorough knowl- 
edge of the French language. He then sent them 
to Dresden, Germany, for two years to acquire 
a knowledge of the German language. During 
these years Mr. Clark spent the winters in 
Europe, and he and Mrs. Clark and the elder 
children tra\elcd extensively through Europe. 
In late years, besides their beautiful home in 
Butte, they have maintained a residence in 
Xew York City, where a iiortion of each year is 
.s])ent. 



HENRY C. REW 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Henry C. Rew, capitalist and philanthropist, 
has been a resident of Chicago since 1868. He 
was born in Maumee, near the present city of 
Toledo, Ohio, April 2, 1839, and is the sou of 
Frederick Augustus Rew, who was l)orn at West 
Bloomington, New Jersey, and Sarah Adams 
(Stow) Rew. His grandfather, Ephraim Rew, 
one of the early pioneers and a soldier of the 
Revolution, came from the Perkshire hills and 
settled near the present site of West P.looming- 
ton, clearing the forests and cultivating the soil. 
Plenry C. Rew's parents were school teachers 
before their marriage and resided in the vicinity 
of Newark, New York; shortly after their mar- 
riage they went to Maumee, where Henry C. 
Rew was born. While he was still a child they 
returned to Newark and there he remained imtil 
nineteen years of age. He has always taken the 
deepest interest in his boyhood home, often re- 
turns to visit it. is known personally to many of 



tlie residents and by name and reputation to all. 
Henry C. Rew acquired a grammar school 
and academic education and was appointed deputy 
postmaster during the term of Hiram Clark, 
postmaster mider President Buchanan. He soon 
resigned, owing to ill health, and took a position 
with Mr. Knight, who conducted a nursery. 
Rapidly regaining his health from the open air 
exercise, he accepted an office position wMth Es- 
bon Blackmar. The winters of 1857 and 1858 
he again attended school, after which he went 
to Albany, New York, carrying with bun letters 
of recommendation from a number of Newark's 
citizens, and obtained a ])osition with Blackmar 
& Irwin, grain merchants. [Mr. Rew asserts 
that these letters had a strong infiuence U])on 
his character, as from that time he endeavored 
to merit the many kind expressions of confidence 
which were spoken for him. He started at the 
lijwest round, becrunc collector and clerk and 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



657 



linally buukkeepcr and cashier. In the fall of 
1S60 Mr. Inviii Ijecanie ill and was unable to 
siqjei-intend the business and .Mr. Kew, tlien mily 
twenty-one }-ears (jf age, assumed its manage- 
ment and conducted it with gratifying' success. 
In 1866 he went to Buffalo, New York, where 
he conducted a grain Ijusiness for twoi years. In 
1868, in partnership' whh 1). \\'. Jrwin, he 
opened an office in Chicago in the same trade, 
which was continued until 18S0, when a special 
pai1:nership was formed. In 1883 Mr. Rew re- 
tired entirely from the grain commission busi- 
ness and has since devoted his time and attention 
toi the manufacture of water gas. He first be- 
came interested in water gas in 1875, and after 
repeated failures has finally won success in its 
l)roduction. ]\Ir. Rew fmmisbed the means to 
Iiuild the Cicero gas works in the town of Cicero, 
a suburb of Chicago, in 1892, and since 1893 
th.is plant has been in successful operation, being 
the most complete and perfect gas plant in 
the world, nsing- tlie cheapest material and 
sending- out the brightest cpiality of artilicial 
light. This induced the building of a large 
plant in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1895, and 
caused a, reduction in the price of gas in 



tl-at city from one dollar and sixty cents to 
cue dollar per thousand, and increased the con- 
sumption fi\c hundred per cent., being largely 
used for fuel purposes. 

Mr. Kew has for many years owned the 
property in Newark, New Jersey, which his fa- 
ther bought over sixty years ago and wdiere the 
family resided. He has recently erected a beau- 
tiful tcn-thousand-doljar building for a public 
library, u])on this site, which he has presented to 
the city. The building is designed as a memorial 
to his parents. The gift included thorough 
equipment and the installation of a professional 
lilirarian at Mr. Rew's expense for one year, after 
which the city is to maintain it as a free public 
library. I\Ir. Rew has traveled extensively in 
England and the continent, in Mexico, No^a 
Scotia, Alaska, Bennuda Island. Jamaica and the 
Hawaiian Islands, and also throughout the 
United States. 

Mr. Rew was married in 18^)3 to Miss 
Thereasa M. Irwin, of Albany. He is a mem- 
ber of the Union League and Washington 
Park Clubs, the Athletic .Association and .\rt 
Institute of Chicago. Politically he is inde- 
pendent. 



SYDNEY E. SINCLAIR 

CEDAR RAFIDS, IOWA 



S. E. Sinclair (if the well-known packing- 
fit m of T. ;M. Sinclair & Company, of Cedar 
Rapids, Iowa, is one of the representati\-e busi- 
ness men of that city, where he is justly regarded 
as a man of affairs. 

S. E. Sinclair was born at Belfast, Ireland, 
and is a son of Thomas and Elizalicth S. Sin- 
clair. His education was received at Belfast. 
Ireland, Clifton, England, and Dresden, Ger- 
many. He was sent to the Royal University of 
Ireland in 1875 and into the packing business in 



Belfast in 1877: was with the firm in Indi- 
anapolis, Indiana, in 1881, and later the same 
year m New York, and in 1882 in Cedar Rap- 
ids, Iowa, where be remained until 189J, when 
he was called to the house in Liverpool, Eng- 
land; remained six years, and in 1898 returned 
to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and has since had charge 
of the firm's business there. 

Mr. Sinclair was president of the Cedar Rap- 
ids Y. M. C. .\. from T887 to 1892. He has 
traveled extensively in England, Scotland, Ire- 



658 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



land, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Hoi- Mr. Sinclair was married in Belfast. Ireland, 

land, Belgium. Canada and the United States: is April lo, 18S5. to Miss i\Iarie Louise Matice, of 

a Presbyterian in religious belief, and. politically Belfast. They have two children, S. Mervyn 

chiefly interested in securing clean, business-like and G. Marguerite Sinclair. 
administrations. 



HENRY WATERMAN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Henry Waterman, of the Gook county bar. degree LL. IM'. He was admitted U> the bar in 
arid member of the firm of Sims & Waterman, is June, 1897, and entered into partnership with 
a son of Levi and Alatilda Waterman, and was Mr. Charles B. Sims, the firm being Sims i!t Wa- 
born at Geneseo. Illinois, Seirtember i. 1872. terman, which still continues. 
'i'he father, Levi Waterman, is a well-known In 1897 ^'''- \\ aterman became quiz master 

business man of western lllino:s of Illinois College of Law. In iS(;,S be was ap- 
:niil was president of the board pointed instructor in personal ])ropcrty. and in 
of Joliet penitentiary commis- 1900 was appointed professor of contracts, which 
sioners under Governor .\ltgeUl. position he still holds. He has served continu- 

Hem'v \\'aterman was edu- 
cated at the ]niblic schools of 
Geneseo, gi-aduating in iX(>o; 
W^ Prejiaratory School, iS()0-iS9i; 

Jk ^^^ Cornell I'nix ersity. ;it Ithaca. 
^Sk'W^ Xew \'ork, iS9i-iS(>5. f n mi 

which institution he graduated, 
receixing degree of Ph. B. : attended ^'ale Law 
School, New Haven. Connecticut, 1895-1896: 
arid Chicago Law School. 1896-1897. graduating 
and receiving degree LL. B. Attended Illinois 
College of Law, 1897- 1898, graduated, receiving 




ously on the faculty since the organization of the 
scliool. and is one of the yomigest members. ;md 
has met with line success in his school work. 
.Mr. Waterman's law ])ractice is large and ot ;in 
important nature. He is of the Jewish faith, old 
line: a Democrat in politics and active in politi- 
cal matters, unniru'ried. and a member ot 11 nai 
IVrith. \. 'M. C. A., secretary of Ideal Club, a 
])rominent north side Jewish organization. Mr. 
'\\'aterman is now serving his second term, and 
is well known in north side social and ])olitical 
circles. 



NIELS ANTON CHRISTENSEN 

MILWAUKEl:. WIS. 

The fame of the snliject of this sketch h;is. lirake i> known by reputation at least all o\er 

in a surprisingly short period of time, reachecl the ci\ilizeil world. I lis road to success was not 

beyond the limits of the boundary of the United an easy one. but he overcame all obstacles and 

States, and. like his famous predecessors, in the even after he had accomplished successfully the 

various fields where American genius has tri- work of years and perfected his invention, he 

umphed, the inventor of the Christenseii Air had to fi.ght for his rights in the courts of the 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



659 



land. X. A. Christcnscn is still a \'(run<;' man, 
and with certain turtunc, as well as hcinurs in 
store ftu" him, he is Imund tn attain an even 
higher jx>sition in liis chosen field. 

Niels Anton Christeiisen was horn August 
16, 1865, at Torring, Jutland, Denmark, and is 
a son of Christen Jensen and Anna Maria (Niel- 
sen) Jensen. The family can trace its ancestry- 
back to the old A'ikings, and for three centuries 
the family has lived on the same estate. Mr. 
Christensen attended the public schools in his 
native city until he had reached the age of four- 
teen years, when he was apprenticed as a ma- 
chinist in a local shop. During the evenings 
he attended a technical school in Veile, near his 
birthplace. At the age of eighteen he attended 
the Technique Institute, at Copenhagen, Den- 
mark; graduating therefrom three years after- 
wards, and ha\-ino- jjassed satisfactory examina- 
tions, was entered in the Royal Danish Navy as 
a constructor. At an early age Mr. Christensen 
evinced a desire to "build things," and partic- 
ularly in the line of marine construction. Be- 
fore he was twenty \ears of age he had desigTied 
the plant for the Danish government's light- 
house at Hanstholmene, on the dangerous west 
coast of Denmark. This is one of the largest 
lighthouses in the world. At the age of twenty- 
two years, while fulfilling his duties as con- 
structor in the Royal Danish Navy, he took the 
examinations for both first and second grade 
naval engineer, and passed successfully. Retir- 
ing from the navv in i8(S8 with high honors and 
a stipend to travel aliroad and gain knowledge 
of navel construction, with a permanent leave of 
absence, Mr. Christensen went to- England. He 
sought in London a position as draughtsman, 
but owing to his inability to< fully master tlie 
Engli.sh language he was unsuccessful. In order 
to gain a knowledge of English he shipped as a 
third assistant engineer on an English steamer 
engaged in Mediterranean trade. At the end of 
a six months' voyage he returned to London and 



secured a ])osition as draughtsman in one of the 
largest English manufacturing concerns. Here 
his ability was sotjn recognized, and amongst 
the im])ortant works' which lie designed was a 
new water works system lor the city of Calcutta, 
India, and also plants for Colonel North, the 
Nitrate King of Chih. In the fall of 1889 he 
was transferred to the main offices of the con- 
cern at Liverpool and given charge of the de- 
signing of some of the most important work, in- 
cluding marine engines, sugar machinery, hy- 
draulic machinery, air compressors, gas engines 
and j)umping engines. He remained with this 
firm for about two years, when he was given 
the principal charge of a large manufacturing 
concern's designing department, where he not 
alone planned the construction of engines, air 
compressors, sugar and hydraulic machinery, 
but textile machinery and paper manufacturing 
machinery as well. The plant of this firm was 
at Darwin, near Liverpool, and while here he 
was also a teacher in the technical evening classes 
of that city. In the latter part rjf 1891, Mr. 
Christensen came to America, going direct to 
Chicago, where he entered the employ of the 
Fraser-Cbalmers Company, first as a designer 
and later as consulting engineer, in chai\ge of 
engine and i)ower-])lant contracting. In 1893 
he retired from this position and took the con- 
tract for the installation of the power ])lant 
which was to be used in the prospective high 
tower at the World's Columl)ian Exposition. In 
August, 1894, he came to Milwaukee, having 
been engaged by the E. P. All is Company as a 
designer, and he remained in the employ of that 
company until 1896. \\'hile in the employ of 
the E. P. .Mlis Company !\fr. Christensen de- 
veloped a new style of blowing engine for steel 
works, which has lieen universally adi>pted. 

In 1892 Mv. Christensen began experiments 
and investigations in the air-brake field, and 
after four years of ahnost constant application 
he succeeded in perfecting the air brake whicli 



66o 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



bears his name. His patent was granted in 1896, 
and hardly had his papers 1>een granted before 
claimants of jjrior invention appeared to contest 
liis claims. The litigatitin resnlted in the com- 
plete victory of Mr. Christensen. His patents 
were held to have been the lirst filed, and the 
l)rioritv of his invention was fully recognized 
bv the courts. Realizing the value of his patent 
air brake. Mr. Christensen. for some time after 
he had perfected it. met witli discouraging ef- 
forts to have it adopted by electric roads, for 
which it is particularly adapted, but in 1897 he 
succeeded in having his air brakes placed on the 
cars of the South Side "Alley" Elevated Rail- 
road of Chicago. The Christensen Air Brake 
factory was of a small lieginning, but now the 



plant at Milwaukee is the largest of its kind in 
the world, and gives employment to over six 
lumdred men. The iiutput goes all over the 
world, and so much is the increase in business 
that the plant is soon to be enlarged one and one- 
half times the present size. 

Mr. Christensen, besides his interests men- 
tioned, is president of the Machinerv E-xchange, 
of Chicago, and has other business interests, buth 
■at home and abroad. He has traveled extensive- 
ly, and is a fluent conversationalist, speaking" 
several of the miulern European languages. He 
is a thirty-seci-'ud-degree Mason. He is a d(j- 
mestic man and has no desire for club life. He 
v.as married in Milwaukee, in 1S94, to ]\Iatilda 
Thomessen, and thev have on child, a daughter. 



EDWARD STUYVESANT BRAGG 

FOND DU LAC, WIS. 



CJcneral Edward S, liragg, suldicr, congress- 
man, lawyer, and at present counsel general at 
Havana, was born in Unadilla, New ^'ork, Feb- 
ruary 20, 1827. He studied three years in Gen- 
eva (Now Hobart) College, then left to study 
law in the office of Judge Noble in Unadilla. 

After being admitted to the bar in 1848 he 
sliortlv removed tO' Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. In 
1854 he became district attorney for the county 
of Fond du Lac and served two years. As a 
Douglas Democrat he was a delegate to the 
Charleston conventimi in \Hf)0. When the Civil 
v.-ar commenced he entered the national seiwice 
as captain May 5, 1861, and held all the inter- 
mediate grades up to that of lirigadier-general, 
with which rank he was mustered out on Oc- 
toljer 8, 1865. He took part in all the campaigns 
of the Armv of the Potomac excejit those of the 
Peninsula, Gettysburg and Fi\e Forks. lie was 
appointed postmaster of Fond du Lac in 1866 
by President Johnson ; the same year he went as 



a delegate to the Pluladelpbia Loyalists conven- 
tion. In 1867 he was elected to the state senate 
and ser\ed a term ; the following year he was a 
delegate tO' the soldiers' and sailors' convention 
which nominated Horatio- Seymour for the presi- 
dency; he was elected successively to the fnrty- 
fifth, forty-sixth and forty-seventh congresses 
and then went as a delegate to the national Dcmo- 
ciatic convention of 18S4, when, as chairman, he 
stconded the nomination of Grover Cleveland for 
president. The same year he was elected to- the 
fcrty-ninth congress. Throughout his con- 
gressional career be was considered one of the 
most formidable debaters in the house. Though 
small of stature, he was apt to be belligerent in 
bearing and possessed rare powers of sarcasm 
and invective. General Bragg was ajipointcd 
counsel-general at Havana, Cuba, May 5, 1902, 
bv President Roosevelt, which position he now 
fills. General Bragg has practiced law fifty-two 
years; was minister to Mexico during President 





n^^^ 'P;r,-,i 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



663 



Clfvclancrs adminislratinn, ami in the C'i\il war ficni Imis^' distances, and the cclcliration of Felj- 

was coniniandcr cf the famous "Iron Hrigade." ruary 20, 1902, was ahnost a state e\-enl. 
'J'iie General's hirthday aiinixersaries have f<jr General l^ragt^ married .Miss Cornelia Cole- 

tlie last ten years attracted friends and admirers n:an January 2, 1855. 



HON. EBEN WEVER MARTIN 

DEADWOOD, SO. UAK. 

Ehen W'ever Martin, Deailwood, South Da- and Federal courts of that region. Married Jes- 

kota, Congressman-at-Large elect. South Da- sie A. Miner, daughter of George N. Miner, of 

kota. Republican in politics. Born at Alakuo- Cedar Falls, Iowa, June 15, 1883. They have 

keta, Iowa, Jackson county, April u, 1855, and five children, three boys and two girls, all living. 

came of English, Irish and Scotch ancestry. Mr. He was a member of the Territorial Legislature 

Martin Avas graduated from Cornell College in of Dakota in 1884 and 1885. Has been for sev- 

1879 with degree of B. A., and three years later eral years president of the Board of Education 

received the degree of A. M. from his alma mater, of the city of Deadwood. Member of the Sons 

He attended the law school of the Uni\crsity of of the American Rex'olutinn, South l^akota 

Michigan, and was there president of his class. Chapter, and of the Iowa Commanderv of the 

He was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1880, Loyal Legion; the latter by inheritance from his 

after which, in the summer of the same year, he father, now deceased, Capt. James W. Martin, of 

mo\-ed to Deadwood, South Dakota, and has since Company I, 24th loAva Volunteers. Mr. Martin 

practiced law continuously in the \-arious state stands high in his state. 



HON. JAMES H. DAVIDSON 

OSHKOSH, WIS. 



James Henry Da\idson, lawyei' and congress- 
luan, is a notable figure in the councils of the Re- 
publican party of Wisconsin, and ranks ecjually 
high in the legal profession. His career has been 
alike able and honorable. 

James Henry Davidson was born at Downs- 



for a short time, and for one year at Princeton, 
Green Lake county, Wisconsin. He commenced 
tlie practice of law at Princeton in 1887, and was 
elected district attorney of Green Lake count)- in 
1888. In 1892 he removed to Oshkosh, where he 
continued the jiractice of his jjrofession. In i8go 



ville. New York, June 18. 1858. His parents were he was chosen chairman of the Republican con- 
James Davidson and Ann (Johnson) Davidson. gressional committee f( r the sixth district of \\'is- 
Lle received liis education in the public schools cousin, and continued in that ]>osition until m min- 
and at the Walton (New York) Academy. lie ;,tcd for the fifty-fifth congress. In May, 1895, 
began the study of law at Walton in the office fie was appointed citv attorney of Oshkosh, for a 
of Fancher & Sewell, and graduated from the term of two years, and in the fall of the same 
Albany Law School, as president of the class, in year was elected member of congress for the term 
1884. He was a teacher in the public schools of 1896 to 1902. Mr. Davidson is a member of 
of Delaware and Sullivan counties, New York, the Masonic order, of the Elks, the Knights of 



664 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Pytliias, the liKlepciuk'iU Order of Odd Felli>\vs. Mr. l)a\ids(iu was married ()cti)1)er S, 1889. 

the Ancient ( )rder of I'nittd Workmen and of to Miss Xiva i". Wilde, of Ripon, Wisconsin. 
tlie Mo(lern Woodmen .\ssociation. 



THOMAS BRENAN 

CHICAGO, ILL. 




Few men, if any, liave I>een more closely 

identified with the growth of Chicago than 

Thomas Brenan, dnring his long, honorable and 

unostentations bnsiness career, and dnring an al- 

niost coiitinnoiis residence here for half a cen- 

tnr\-, inclnding a period of 

over thirty-fi\'e years si>ent 

in jnihlic and official life. 

Thomas Brenan was 

Ixirn on Prince Edward 

. f|fc» ^Ei - Island, in Nova Scotia. 

I lis fatiier was Martin 
I'.renan. a farmer in Wex- 
ford, who went to Dnhlin 
for a wife, rmd shortly af- 
terward the two sailed for 
America. Accident cansed 
them t(! 1,-miI 1 11 T'rince Edward Island, and there 
they decided to remain. Martin Prcnan had some 
n'.oney, which lie in\ested in a general stock of 
goods, and then set himself up as a merchant. 
He prosjjered for some years, and dnring the 
time his son Thomas was born. In the schools 
on the island the lad received his first instruction 
in books, but the father's ambition was now 
awakened, .'uid he determined to seek a larger 
field of endeav( r in the Ihiitcd States. He re- 
mox'cd in 1844 with his family to Postou, but 
not finding there a business for his capital be soon 
after went (-n a prospecting tour through the 
west. He made three tours of the kind, which 
consumed altogether aliout three years. All this 
time, and for two^ years longer. Thomas was hard 
at study in an excellent Boston school. At last 



the father was in Chicago, and. being satisfied 
that this was the i)lace of all others to> make his 
home, he sent for mother and son. They arrived 
in 184Q and at once occupied a two-st<»rv frame 
building on the corner of Lake street and Wabash 
a\enue. 

Thomas I'.renan had a good education and 
was now at an age when he felt he should be 
self-supporting. He helped in his father's store, 
but that did n( t satisfy him. He first took a po- 
sition w itli Stearns & Springer, dealers in bard- 
ware, on Wells street ( no-w Fifth avenue), and 
then took the position of head clerk in the Peoria 
Hotel, at I'eoria, Illinois. After two years in this 
situation he was in\itc(l to take p.art in the C(.in- 
struction of the Purcau \'alle\ K.'iilroad from 
Peoria to' Rock Island; he accepted the ])osition 
of accountant and p:i\inaster and continneil at it 
niilil the completion of the work. He then be- 
came bookkeeper in .'i li(|ui;r house doing a job- 
bing trade on South W.ater street. Soon the head 
of the firm died and Mr. Brenan inn-chased the 
estate's interest and went mi with the business 
under the firm name of Brenan & Cillen, which 
continued until the outbreak if the war. 

During these years he took little |)art in poli- 
tics: he was one of the iinmoters of the Shields 
Guards, and was In'mself a mcmher of that line 
niilitarv company. He was also ;i member ol the 
historic vi>luntccr fire department. The engine 
which he helped to man was Red Jacket Xo. 4, 
and his captain was D. J. Swenie, who was for 
fifty years chief of the fire department of the 
citv. Mr. Brenan has always been interested in 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



665 



all matters ptrtainino- u> the C.'atlnilic cliurcli. and 
he assisted in the cry-anixation and maintenance 
nf Catlidlic literary societies, lie was a meniher 
(if the same literary suciety with James A. Alnlli- 
t^an. P.. G. Caulfield, W. J. Onahan and other 
lirilliant }'(>nng' men. On the nnthrcak of the 
v,ar patriotic Irish citizens swiftly came tooether 
in considerable minibers under the leadership of 
Mulligan. Uix)n the formatiou of the Mulligan 
Guards, Mr. Brenaii was appointed second lieu- 
tenant, hut \\<as on detached serx-icc at the tinie 
of the disaster in Missouri and so escaped cap- 
ture. He was with Colonel Mulligan in West 
A'irginia, and was doing staf¥ duty the day the 
Colonel was killed. He was liy when bra\e 
young Nugent was shot down, and himself was 
e.xposed to the showering bullets of the eneni\'. 
At the beginning of that desperate fig'ht Colonel 
Mulligan commanded twenty thousand men, anil 
the famous brigade bore its part in it with terrible 
cft'ect upon the Confederates, but its own losses 
were no less. It came o^nt of thai day's b.'ittle 
with great honor, l)ut a badh' broken organiza- 
tion, and for the rest of the campaign its en- 
t'ecbled ]>arts were included in the conimand of 
Colonel Thnburn, of Pennsylvania. With this 
olTicer they went to Richmond in time to wit- 
ness General Lee's surrender. Dren.'in was. how- 
c\er, down with an illness at about that time, and 
before the army disbanded he was granted sick 
lca\'e and came home. He was nnistered out of 
the ser\'ice at Springfield. 

In 1865, being once more in Chicago, be went 
again intO' mercantile life, but as a clerk in the 
dry goods house of Peter Smith on Clark street, 
where lie remained for a number of years, and 
did such good work that be was rc]ieatcdl\' ad- 
\ .anced in [losition and salar\-. lUU be had no 
great liking for mercantile pursuits, and so when 
his friend W. J. Onahan was appointed city col- 
lector he accepted a responsible ])oisition in that 
office. He liad made himself so useful in the 
position that Mr. Onahan's successor, though of 



the o])i)i)site ])olitics. was glad to continue him in 
it through bis ciuire term. .Vow both a i)ersonal 
and i)olitical friend of bis, the genial and ])opular 
Dan O'Hara, was elected city treasurer and be 
was asked to take the place of assistant treas- 
urer, Mr. O'Hara greatly strengthened himself 
by appointing Mr. I'.rennan to be his assistant. 
The reputation of his assistant fur excellence as 
an accountant and his tried honesty inspired 
added confidence that the city treasury was in 
]M-oper hands. He continued in the position 
through ]\Ir. O'Hara's term, and turned the office 
over to the new treasurer, Clinton Briggs, whose 
first act was to appoint his predecessor's assistant 
to be his own. Mr. Briggs was succeeded l)v 
^^'illiam C. Seii>p, wlio also appointed Mr. 
Brenan to be his assistant — in fact, he was the 
virtual treasurer — and Mr. Seipp was succeeded 
by Rudolph Brandt, who, too, gave over the run- 
ning of the office to Mr. Brenan. .At last he re- 
signed to take the office of assistant count v treas- 
mer, a more important position, which he llllcd 
with e(|ual success. 

In recent years Mr. Brenan has nc.t been act- 
ive in politics, and is certainly not a stanch 
]:;artisan. He is a Democrat, l>ut Iras- no ])arf\- 
purpose to accomplish, and contents himself with 
simply ca.sting his vote: and be does this some- 
tunes quite independently. Much of bis time is 
ocaipied in superintending a force of men em- 
ployed in managing under the bishop his church's 
real estate business and the two cemeteries of 
Calvary and Mmmt Olivet. 

Mr, Brenan is more proud of his long con- 
nection with the schools of the city than of ;m\- 
other thing in bis public career. His first ;iii- 
pointment as member of the school board was in 
1878, and made by 'M.ayor Heath, a Re])nblic;in. 
This' was only twenty-four years after the be- 
ginning of the present school system, and he has 
been continuously a member of the board ever 
since. It is hence seen that he has been a con- 
stant instrument in almost the entire develops 



666 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



ir.ent of the public scliool system of tlie city. Me 
lias not made a lig"lu lalxir of any part of it all. 
He has rendered no perfiincton- service from the 
first down to the present. The roll sheets of 
nearly every meeting- in all this long time will be 
found to contain his name. Justly is he proud 
of this conscientious service rendered to the com- 
munity, and riglitly does he feel that the public 
schools reflect lasting credit uixm him. He did 
not much need to have a school buiUling named 
Brenan in his honor, but his fellow members of 
the board unanimously voted him the compli- 
ment. Thev have also honored him Iw placing 
linn on the leading committees of the board. He 
is chairman of the committee on school manage- 
ment and a member of the committees on the 
proi:)ertv fund, on the high school, on college 
preparatory sclrools and on sanitary service: and 
he, with E. J. Rosenthal and Ella G. Hull, has 
charge of the entire seventh district. Mr. Brenan, 



in beautiful testimony of iiis interest in the schocil 
children, .some years ago had made the Brenan 
n-.edal, or medals — one is of gold and the other 
of silver — which he occasionally in person gives 
as a reward of goinl scholarship as he makes his 
rounds of inspection. Further, he has done prob- 
ably more than rm_\- other man to bring about 
friendly relations lietween the public an<l pri\ate 
schools of Chicago. Few, perhaps, know the ex- 
tent of the private schools, the amotmt of money 
invested in them, and the educational results 
from them. The term pri\-ate schools covers 
also, of course, the parochial schools. I^et it be 
repeated, that Thomas Brenan i)roudly regards 
his labors in and for the pufilic schools of Chi- 
cago as bv far the best work he has been per- 
mitted to do in his time of unremitting actixitv, 
and what he has acconi])lished is understood and 
appreciated by the jiublic at large. His name is 
known to e\'erv child in the schools of the citv- 



JUDGE ABNER SMITH 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Judge Abncr Smith, chief Justice of the cir- 
cuit court of Cook county, is a leading and com- 
manding figure on the bench ;uid was for many 
years a distinguished member of the Chicago 
bar. 

Abner Smith was born at Orange, ^lassacliu- 
setts, April 4. 1843, and is a son of Humphrey 
and Sophronia (Ward) Smith. The Smith 
family was implanted on .\nierican soil in colo- 
nial days, and the Ward family is no less dis- 
tinguished. As early as 1639 William ^^'ard, 
emigrating from luigland, took x\\) his residence 
in Sudbury, Massachusetts, and authentic records 
show that the family lias furnished many bril- 
liant representatives to those callings which de- 
mand su])erior mental attainments, the l)encli, the 
bar, the pulpit and to science and letters. 



Abner Smith was reared and educated at 
Middlebury. \'ermoiit, where his parents resided 
during his early years, graduating with honors 
from the ]\Iiddlebury College in 1866. Ik- 
taught school for a time and for fi\e years had 
charge of the Newton Academy at Shoreham, 
\"ermonl. In 18A7 he came to Chicago, joining 
his parents, who had settled here in 1862, and 
entered upon his preparation for the bar. becom- 
ing a student in the law office of James L. Stark. 
He was admitted to practice in 18(^)8, and went 
into partnershi]) with his former i)rece])tor. un- 
der the firm name of Stark & Smith. This firm 
continued in practice until the death of ]\Ir. Stark 
in 1873, when Mr. Smith settled up his partner's 
estate and succeeded to the legal business of the 
firm. In 1877 a partnership was formed with 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



669 



Joliii M. 11. liurj^ett under the firm name of 
Smith & P)Urg'ett. which relalinn was sustained 
until 1887. By this time Mr. Smitli liad Ijecunie 
one of the fnreniost la\\'yers in the west, lie lias 
always I)een a hard student, nnt only in the law, 
hut in all fields nf science, literature and art, and 
possesses a mind stored with an incredihle 
amount of useful iuft;rmation and holds the repu- 
tation of Ijeing one of the most erudite of the 
great jurists of Chicag^o, also one of the most 
culturcil scholars, as well as jurists in the central 
part of the L'nited States. 

After the dissolution of the partnership of 
Smith & Burgett Mr. Smith continued practice 
alone. Many of the most important cases of that 
day were placed luider his direction. He was 
for some time attorney for the National Life 
Insurance Company, of Vermont, and the Life 
Indemnity and In\-estment Company, of Iowa, 



now the Iowa Life Insurance Company. He was 
a director of the North Star Construction Com- 
pany, which huilt the Duluth iS; Winnipeg Rail- 
r<iad, has e.\tensi\e real-estate interests and is 
idcntilied with x'arious important corporations as 
a stocklKilder. 

Judge Smith has always heen an earnest ad- 
\ocate of Republican principles and in 1893 was 
elected judge of the circuit court for a term of 
f(jur years, and was again elected in 1897 and 
re-elected in 1901. Judge Smith administers 
justice ca])ahly, honestly and fearlessly, and ranks 
high in the esteem of the bench, bar and pulilic. 

Judge Smith was married October 5, 1859, 
to Miss Ada C. Smith, a daughter of Sereno 
Smith, of Shoreham, V'ermont. They had (jne 
child, who died in June. 1875. The Judge is a 
member of several clubs, including the Union 
League and Hamilton Clubs. 



CHARLES ARND, B. A., M. A. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



Charles Arnd was born January 26, 1855,- at 
Bernhard's Bay, Oswego count}-. New York, and 
is the son of Frederick and Caroline (Kreutzer) 
Arnd. His early education was obtained at the 
public schools, and he prepared for college at 
Haverling Free Academy, Bath, New York. He 
was a graduate from Amlierst College in the 
class of 1875, and then took post-graduate 
courses in the uni\-ersities of Berlin, Heidelberg 
arid I'aris. He studied Roman and international 
law in luu'ope and began the stttdy of ^Vmerican 
law with McMaster & Parkhurst, at Bath, New 
"S'ork. in the spring of 1877. In November, 1878, 
he removed to L'hicago and comiileted the study 
of law in the offices of William H. King and 
John H. TIiom])son, and was admitted to the I)ar 
of Illinois in April, 1878, at the appellate court 
examination. 



Mr. Arnd was secretary of the Young Men"s 
Auxiliary Clul), a reform political organization, 
in 1878, and was one of the leatlers of the anti- 
Grant-Blaine- Washburn mo\-ement, which result- 
ed in the nomination of James A. Garfield for 
president. As a lawyer he stands high and oc- 
cupies a conspicuous position before the Chicago 
bar. His name has been connected with many 
important trials since. In 1881 he was apipointed 
justice of the peace upon the recommendation of 
the Cook county judges to' the governor of Illi- 
nois, and retained that jjosition six and a half 
years. He was the only justice in the town 
of Norlh Chicago who was re-app'oiuled in 
1883. 

Mr. Arnd has been connected with the Union 
Clul), tiie Marquette Club and the Sunset Club, 
and is now a memljer of the Chicago Athletic 



670 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Association, tlie E\aiiston Clul), tlie Evanstun France, ami exlensivelv throughout tlie United 

Country I'hil). and the (ilenview L'hih. He has States. IN litically lie is a Rei)ul)lican. and re- 

travelcd tln-nngh I'".n^iand. Ireland. Scotland. lig-iously is a member ,,\ the h'ljiscnp.-ilian faith. 

W'.iles. (lerinany. Anstri.a. Switzerland. Italy and Mr. Arnd is a bachelnr. 



HON. FRANCIS MARION DRAKE 



CENTERVILLE. IOWA 



Gen. h'rancis ]\l. 1 )rake was horn in Rush\ille, 
Jllinnis, December 30. iS^o. lie came to Iowa m 
1837, where he has ever since resided. He re- 
ceived a good business education and has led an 
active and successful business life. At the age 
of sixteen he entered his father's store as a clerk, 
in which employment he continued until he be- 
came of age, when, during the gold excitement in 
California, he decided to work out his own for- 
tune. 

He crossed the plains to Sacramento in 1852 
with an ox train, taking with him two ox teams 
and five men. .\fter crossing the Missouri river 
iu flatboats he organized a small train called the 
Drakeville train, of which he was chosen captain. 
At the crossing t>f Shell Creek, Nebraska, in 
command of twenty men. lie had a severe en- 
gagement with about three hundred Pawnee In- 
dians, defeating and inllicting upon them heavy 
loss in killed and wounded. His venture to 
California proving quite successlul. he again 
cros.sed the plains in 1834. taking with him a 
drcjve of cattle and some horses and oxen and 
re.-ichiug Sacramento with them in excellent con- 
dition and a small percentage of loss. On his 
last return from California he was a passenger 
on the ill-fated steamer ■■^■ankee Blade." which 
was wrecked and tot;illy lost .September 30. 1834. 
oil the Pacilic oce.nn ne.ir \'> int .\guilla, from 
which he narrowly escaped and was picked up 
on a barren coast five days later. On his return 
Iiome he engaged in the mercantile, milling and 
live stock business with his father and brother 



at Drake\ille, in l)a\'is county, and afterwards 
on his oAvn account at Unionxille. Appanoose 
CLiunty until the outbreak of the Ci\il war. In 
1861 he enlisted and was commissioned captain 
of a company, which was organized into Colonel 
Edwards" Indepeiulent Iowa Regiment, of which 
he was elected and commissioned major, and 
with this command served through the critical 
times of 1861 in Missouri, driving the reliel 
forces under General Patton from the northern 
part of the state . He was assigned l)y General 
Prentiss to the conunand of St. Joseph, lioldiug 
the position at the time of Colonel ^Mulligan's 
surrender to General Price at Lexington, and de- 
fending the attack at St. Joseph soon afterw ards. 
At the organization of the Thirtj'-sixth Iowa In- 
fantry in i86_' he was commissioned lieutenant- 
colonel, and in the military histtjry of the three 
years' hard and efficient service of that regiment, 
placing it among the distinguished regiments of 
Iowa, his name stands conspicuous. He took 
prominent jiart in the campaign of General 
Steele from Little Rock to reinforce General 
Banks on his Red river expedition in Louisiana 
in 1864, and rendered imix>rtant service. His 
gallant defense at Flkins Ford on the Little Mis- 
soiUM river while in command of Ine Inuidred 
men against General Marmaduke's di\isiou of 
three thousand men, resulting in holding the ford 
after a .severe engagement lasting from daylight 
in the morning until near noon was highly com- 
mended bv his superior officers, and he was soon 
after placed in command of his l)rigade. On 




^ A^ 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



673 



llie _'5th lit April, 1SO4, al llie liloody battle of 
Marks Mills, while in Cdiiiinanfl of his brigade, 
less than tifteen humlrtd men, lighting the com- 
bined caxalry forces cjf Kirb)- Smith, aljont eight 
thousand, commanded Ijy Major (ieneral Fagan, 
he was severely woimded in the left thigh and fell 
iiUo the hands of tlie enemy. The \\<jund was 
pronounced mortal, the thigh bone being slight- 
ly fractured by a JJelgian Ijall weighing one and 
a half ounces — the bone se\ering the ball into 
three pieces and Ijeing afterwards extracted, ex- 
cept one drachm (if lead buried in the bone where 
it struck and still remains. Owing to' the severity 
of the wound he was not held as prisoner, and 
after a confinement of nearly six montiis, his 
vvound being sufficiently healed, he in October 
following-, by the aid of crutches, rejoined his 
command at Little Rock. lie was soon after 
recommended for promotion and was bre\'eted 
and commissioned brigadier-general of United 
States Volunteers, and assigned for duty com- 
mensurate with liis rank. He relieved General 
Thayer of his command at St. Charles and \\'hite 
river and later commanded a brigade in the di- 
vision of General Shaler and the Post of Duval's 
Blufifs, Arkansas, until his muster out O'f service 
in 1865. After the war he resumed the mer- 
cantile business, but by reason of his wounds was 
unajjle toi give it his active personal attention 
and entered the practice of law associated with 
Judge Amos Harris, afterwards with General A. 
J. Baker, with whom he practiced for six years, 
acijuiring a high reputation as a criminal lawyer. 
From the practice of law he entered the railroad 
and banking business. Hias built and operated 
i'lvc railroads, controlling them as ])resident. Is 
now president of the Centerville .Xational liank 
and the First National Bank at Albia, biwa. lie 
is also president of the board of trustees of Drake 
University, Des Moines, Iowa, which bears his 
name as one of its founders and its most liberal 
benefactor. He has also been a liberal contriliutor 



to other educational institutions, to the building 
of scores of churches, is one of the founders of 
the Church Extension l-'und of the Christian 
church, with which he stands prominentlv con- 
nected and is nnc (if the largest contributors to 
the missionary and other benex'oleni wdrks nf 
tiiat religious Society. lie is an ( )(1(1 In-llnw 
and a Mason of In'gh rank and >^tan(ling and 
is a member df the Commandeiv and of t'.ic 
Iowa Military Order of the I.oyal Legion of 
the United States. In politics he has ever 
been a Republican. .\t the call of the biwa 
state Repuljlican conveiUidU in j<Sy5 he ac- 
cepted its nomination for the office of governor 
and was elected in November that A'ear by the 
largest vote then ever given for that office in 
Iowa. He served one term, which expired Jan- 
uary 16, 1898, refusing a second term on ac- 
count of injuries received to his old wounds 
caused by a fall on the granite steps of the 
capitol in July, 1897, from the effects of which 
he will never fully recover. He was married De- 
cember 24, 1855, to Mary Jane Lord, a native 
of Ohio, and who died at his heme in Center- 
ville, Iowa, June jj, 1883. She was the mother of 
seven children, six of whom are ]i\-ing". George 
Hamilton died in intancy at the age of twenty-two 
months. The li\ing are two sons, Frank Els- 
worth and Jolm Adams, and four daughters, 
Harriet Amelia (Milla), Jennie, Eva and Mary, 
all of whom are married. Frank is in business 
and resides in Chicago. He was married to 
Flora Bissett at Momence, Illinois, in 1 S<S_^ .-ind 
has one son, Francis. 

John is also a resident and business man in 
Chicago. He was married on the jfith of Jan- 
uary, 1893, to Dnla Heisel Rae, the step and 
a(lo[)tcd daughter of Colonel Robert Rae, of Chi- 
cago. 

Milla resides in Chicago, the wife of T. P. 
Shouts, president and general manager of the 
Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroad, 'i'hev were 



6/4 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



marrietl in Centerville in iSSi and have two 
daugliters, Marguritc and 'Idici.dnra. 

Jennie is the wile of J)r. j. L. Sawyers, an 
eminent physician and snrgeKn in Centerville, 
Jowa. The\- were married in 1SS3 and have two 
daughters. Alary and Hygiene, and one son, 



Francis Lazelle. E\a is the wile of Henry Goss, 
a wholesale and retail Ixot and shoe merchant of 
Centerville. 'J'hey have one son, Joseph Ma- 
ri(_in. Mary is the wife of (George W. Sturdi- 
\'ant, a dry-goods merchant in Centerxille. They 
ha\e one daughter, Mary. 



JOHN S. BUTLER 



CH1C.4GU, ILL. 



John S. Dutler was horn at Ouel)ec, Canada, 
June 4, 1863, and is a son of Michael J. and ]\Iary 
(Sinr.ott) Butler. 

While still in his infancy his 
parents moved to Chester, South 
Carolina, where Mr. Butler re- 
ceixed his early education and 
where he resided until 1880, 
when he came to Chicago and 
engaged in the manufacturing 
husiness. Later he attended the 
Lake Forest U^nivcrsity Law De- 
]>artment and graduated and was 




admitted to the Ijar in 1895, since which time he 
has practiced law in Chicago. 

Politically Mr. Butler is a Democrat and is 
a memher of all the Masonic hodies except the 
thirt\-third degree. He is a memher of the 
Chicago Athletic Association and Germania 
Clul), also the Royal League, Royal Arcanum 
and other cluhs and societies, l)oth political audi 
social. 

Mr. Pjutler was married, in August, 1893, to 
Miss IVLatilda E. Tschirch, daughter of Rev. 
Ernst T.schirch and Louise (Felthotf:') Tschirch, 
of Diseldorf, Germany. 



ROBERT JOHN BENNETT 



CH1CAG(J, ILL. 



Rohert J. liennett, vice-president of the firm 
of W. M. Hoyt Company, one of the largest 
and oldest houses in the wholesale grocer\- line 
in Chicago, is one of the best-known and highly 
respected merchants of the western metropolis. 

He has won liis present well-merited dis- 
tinction hy his energetic husiness ahility, together 
with great integrity of purjjose hacked liy liis 
iiulomitahle energy. 

Robert J. Bennett was born at Pulaski, Os- 
wego county, New York, February 9, 1839, and 
is a son of Reulien J. and Alta Haskins Bennett, 



The former was born in Oswego county. New 
York, and the latter in Rutland, \'ermont. 

Mr. Bennett received his education at the 
Waukegan Academy, of Waukegan, Illinois, and 
at the high school of Racine, Wisconsin. He 
taught school for a time, and came to Chicago in 
]\Iarch, 1863, and filled a position as bookkeeper 
and cashier. February i, 1865, he became a 
wholesale fruit dealer, and August i, 1874, l>e- 
canie a member of the firm of W. M. Hoyt Com- 
prny and its secretary and treasurer, and is now 
the vice-president of this great firm, to the up- 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



67: 



building df which he has cniitrihuted largely. 
Mr. Bennett in politics is a stalwart Kepujjli- 
can, and has always slrong]\- sn[)i)iirte(l his party. 
Altliough nut an office seeker, yet he has served 
as alderman at Lake I-'orest, Illinois, and member 
of the schi" 1 board at Ra\-ensvvcx)d. He has 
been a l)ank director and president of the Jllinois 
('hiklren's 1 Ionic and Aid Society; memljer of 
the board of the Chicago City Missionary So- 
ciety; trustee of Wheaton College and of the 
V. M. C. A. of Chicago and many other positions 



of like nature. Air. Dennett has traveled exten- 
si\-ely both in this couiitr_\- and abroad, liaving 
\isited Europe, Egypt, Palestine, China, Japan 
and the Hawaiian Islands. He attends the Con- 
gregational church. 

Mr. Bennett was married April y, ]^(y2. to 
Electa M. Ployt, sister of W. M. Hoyt. She 
was Ijorn in Vermont, came west at fourteen 
years of age and married at twenty-two. She is 
a lady of marked culture and refinement and a 
member of a well-known old Vermont familv. 



GEORGE ALBERT WHITING 

NEENAH, WIS. 

The business career of George A. Whiting, majorit_\- had become the iX)ssessor of sufficient 

from the time he came to Neenah at about the funds to embark in business for himself. Air. 

close of the Ci\'il war, when a boy of si.xteen, Whiting had become a close student of paper 

and how by degrees be has become one of the making, and foreseeing" tlie great possibilities 

most extensive manufacturers of paper in the thereof decided tO' embark in the industry. In 

northwest, reads like a romance. 1S72 we find him one of the original organizers 

Mr. Whiting was born June (). 1849, in the and stockholders in what is now the Kimberly 

old Empire state, and is a son of Charles and & Clark Company. 1 le did not remain a member 

Katherine ( EfnerJ Whiting, and came to Wis- of the concern long, howe\er, and in 1875 pur- 

consin with his parents in 1854, settling in chased an interest in the Winnebago Paper Mills. 

Uilioii, where the boy grew up in a manner not In 1881 he disix)sed of his stock in the Winne- 

unlike most boys. But at the early age of si.x- bago, and in partnersbii) with William (iilbert 

teen he decided to do something for bimself. erected the Gilbert & Whiting mills. Five years 

His ])arents were averse to his leaving home. later he bought Mr. Gilbert's interest and has 

but being e\en at that age possessed of the same since operated his plant alone. His mills to-day 

inilomitable courage and self reliance that has are among the m<_)st modern in this section, ha\'- 

lieen si 1 characteristic of the man throughout his ing licen entirelv rebuilt after the lire of 1S88. 

life, he ran a\\a\', with a vvvy limited cajiital. He manufactiu'es fine machine and lliiished su]>er 

lndee<l it is told of him that when he step])e(l cdendered Ixtoks, col(:|-ed writings and l'"rench 

olt the train in this citv in iS()3 his sole worldly folios, and the plant is taxed to its utmost ca- 

possessions amounteil to ten cents. Xotbing pacity to supply the den.iand. 

dainited, liowe\er. the young man sought and In 18S8 Mr. Whiting organized the Cen- 

obtained employment as a clerk in the store of tralia Pulj) \- Water Power Comp.any. and. 

Pettibone &■ Jones. He was attenti\'e to busi- disposing of his interests therein, three years 

ness, faithful to bis emjiloyers, capable, honest later purchased \alnable water ])owers along the 

and frugal, and shortly after he had attained bis Wisconsin river, after which he built the Wis- 

31 



676 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



consin River Paper (^ i'ulp Cunipaiiy plant at 
Whiting, two miles south of Stevens Point, of 
which immense industr)- he has e\er since been 
president and principal stockholder. This con- 
cern possesses one of the finest water powers in 
the United States and manufactures eighty thou- 
sand pounds of pulp per day and produces a like 
number of pounds of print paper e\'erv twentv- 
four hours. A year later, 1893, ]\[r. W biting or- 
ganized the I'lover Paper Company at the same 
point. This mill is one of the finest, if not the 
very best, in its class in the United States. They 
manufacture liigh grade writing paper, extra 
tine halftone papers, and super calendered boc.ik 
jjapers, the capacity being forty thousand pounds 
per day. 

To give some idea of the immensity of the 
three mills of which Air. Whiting is the prac- 
tical head, it is but necessary to state that a total 
of four hundred and lifty tO' five hundred people 
are constantly employed therein and that the 
product of the combined plants is considerably 
more than $1,000,000 per year. Thus it will be 
seen that George A. Whiting is an important 
factor in the paper-making world of to-day, and 
that he has attained his jjosition solely upon his 
own efforts is all the more creditable. 

Aside from the paper industry. Air. Wliiting 
has been an active man in many other directions. 
He has extensive interests in valuable unim- 
proved water powers, as well as a numl>er of 
other important investments. He was one of the 
organizers of the First National Bank of 
Menasha, and in 181J3 assisted in founding thci 
Citizens' National Bank at Stevens Point, in 
which sound financial institution he is still a 
heavy stockholder. Jn a word, George A. Whit- 
ing has had a most remarkably successful ca- 
reer, never ha\ing been connected with a single 
venture that prcjved un])nifilable whether he re- 
mained therewith or not, which clearly denotes 
that he is a man gifted with unusual faculties for 
foretelling the outcome of investment. 



Air. Whiting has never aspired to i>olitical 
preferment, respectfully but most emphatically 
declining all tenders in that direction. In earlier 
years, howe\er, he was induced to become an 
alderman and in 18S4-85 ser\ed at the head of 
the municipal government. He is a firm believer, 
however, in the ix)licy of the Republican party 
and never fails to do his duty to advance the 
in.terests thereof. He was appoiiUed colonel on 
the staff of Governor Schofield in 1897 and ac- 
cepted the honor with ease and grace. Mr. 
Whiting is very prominent in fraternal work, 
especially Masonry, of which order he has been 
a member for many years, ha\'ing been master 
of Kane Lodge for six years. He is a thirty- 
second-degree Mason and a Shriner and takes 
an active interest in the welfare of the order. 

j\lr. Whiting's home is constructed chiefly of 
handsome monolith red sandstone, the stone used 
m the building being the celebrated monolith 
taken from the Prentice quarry near Bayfield. 
This was the largest single stone ever quarried 
in the United States, being one hundred and 
fifty feet long and ten feet square at the base 
and four by ten feet at the top, and weighing 
something like one million five hundred thousand 
pounds. It was oft'ered to the World's Colum- 
bian Exposition as well as to the city of Alil- 
waukee, but was found to be too heavy to move 
in one piece. Air. Whiting purchased and had 
it converted into building material for his new 
home, which is said to be one of the finest and 
costliest in this' section. 

Air. Whiting has an accomplished wife, 
whom he married in 1870. She was Miss Edna 
F. Babcock, daughter of Rev. O. W. Babcock. 
She is a highly cultured lady, and has gained 
nuich praise from connoisseurs as an artist of 
undoubted ability, l^ery painting in the Whit- 
ing home is from the brush of Airs. Whiting. 
One son. Master Frank, aged sixteen, a most 
promising son, rounds out the ])leasures of houie 
life for Mr. and Airs. Whiting. 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



677 



JOSEPH P. COBB, m. D. 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Dr. Jo.sepli 1'. Cuhlj was Ixirn at Abington, legi.strar of the cnllege. lie lias l)een senior pni- 
Massacliusetts, June u. 1857, and is the son of fessor of physiology and has held his present title 
JMlward W. and l''.lniina C'ohh. He was educated af seni(jr professor of di.seases of children for 
in a ])ri\ate school at W'allhani, Massachusetts, seven years, and clinical [vrofessor of diseases of 
and at ] harvard University, where he received children, Hahnemaini Hospital, for eight years, 
tile degree of A. B. His medical Dr. Cobb is a member of the .Vmerican Insti- 
training was acquired at Hahne- tute of Homeopathy, Homeopathic Medical So- 
niann Med:cal College of Chi- ciety of Illinois, Homeopathic Medical Society of 
cago. Dr. Cobb has lived in Chicago, Southern Homeopathic MecHcal Asso- 
Chicago since 1880; he began the ciation, Clinical Society of Chicago and the Sun- 
practice of his profession in 1883 set Club. 

and has since enjoyed a large Dr. Cobb is a Republican in politics and a 

general practice in the South Side member of the Swedenlx>rgian church'. 

of the city, principally in Ken- He was married at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 

wood. He has been connected Sq>tember 18, 1882, tO' Miss Edith H. Persons 

with Hahnemann Medical College and Hahne- of that city. They have one son, Edmond P. 

mann Hospital since 1888 and was for six years Cobb. 




HON. JOHN TAYLOR HAMILTON 

CEUAR RAPIDS, IOWA 

John T. Hamilton, senior member of the firm ids, Iowa, February 2, 1868, and engaged in the 

of Hamilton Brothers, president of the Mer- sale of agricultural implements, .seed and coal, un- 

chants' National Bank and president of the der the firm name of Averill & Hamilton, and is 

Cedar Kapids Saxings Bank, is one of the lead- now senior member of the firm of Hamilton 

ing financiers of the state of Iowa. He is a man Brothers. He has been president of the Cedar 

of prominence and influence in his city, both in Rapids Savings Bank since its organization, in 

business circles and public and political afl:'airs ; 1883, and president of the Merchants' National 

has 1>een a congressman, member of the loAva Bank since July, 1899. 

state legislature, speaker of the t\\ enty-secoinl Mr. Hamiltou has always been active in poli- 

general assembly and mayor of Cedar Kapids. tics, is a Democrat, and was mayor of Cedar 

John T. llainiltoii was born in Cornw.all, Kapids in 1878, member of the Ijoard of su])er- 

visors for Linn county 1881 to 1884, member of 
the Iowa state legislature from 1885 to 1890; 

lor) Hamilton. His education was received at was speaker of the Iwenty-second general assem- 

the district schools and the Geneseo high school. bly, and a memlier (if the fifty-second congress 

From May, 1864, to December, 1867, his busi- from the fifth district of Iowa, 

ness was fire insurance. He moved to Cedar Rap- He is a Mason, a member of the Crescent 



Henry county, Illinois, October 16, 1843, <'"'! '■'^ 
a son of James Steel and Mary Elizabeth (Tay- 



678 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



Lodge, A. F. & A. AI.; Trowell Cliapler, R. A. 
M. ; Aixjllo Commandery, Xo. 26, K. '['., and has 
served as worshipful master, high priest and emi- 
nent commander. He has traveled extensively in 
the United States, Canada, Alexico and Japan, 
and attends the Episcopal church. 



Air. Hamilton was married October 16, 1873, 
at St. Andrews, Quebec, to Miss Sarah A. 
Junes, only daughter of Edward and I'lmebe 
Jdues. Four children have been born to them. 
Two died in infancy. The elder, James E., and 
voungest. Mabel baure, arc now living at Imme. 



CHARLES S. THORNTON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

Charles S. Thornton, cx-corpcjration counsel fall, in the otTices of Lyman & Jackson, antl Isham 
of Chicago, and now senior member uf the law & Lincoln, was admitteil to practice, upon exam- 
lirm of Thornton & Chancellor, is a man whose ination before the supreme court of Illinois at 
knowledge of the law is comprehensive, his appli- Ottawa. Lnmediately thereafter he opened an 
cation of its principles exact, and his experience office in Chicago and entered upon his profes- 
in all branches of jurisprudence so extensive that sionul career. At a later date he entered into 
his fitness for his professicju is at once recognized partnership with Justus Chancellor, which con- 
by all. He is of strong mentality, with a ready nection, with the addition of several well-known 
command of English, and before court or jury lawyers, still continues, and the firm of Thornton 
his arguments are forcefid, logical and convinc- & Chancellor has become one of the largest and 
iug. With masterly skill and tact he manages most prominent in llie legal fraternity of Chicago, 
his cases, winning the laurel in many a forensic JMr. Thornton was not long in securing a 
combat. Li a profession that depends upon intel- liberal clientage, and has gained distinctive pre- 
lectual prowess, distinction can only be won by ferment in sexeral branches of the law. He has 
individual eilort, and the eminent position which made a specialty of corporation and real-estate 
Air. Thornton occupies at the Illinois bar at once law and is dioroughly informed on all matters 
indicates the lalior and diligence that have en- pertaining to these departments. He has con- 
abled him to attain splendid success. ducted many suits involving large interests, and. 
Air. Thornton is a native of Alassachusetts, having been called upon so frequently to adjust 
his birth having occurred in the city of Boston, the rights of owners of lands, he is recognized 
on the I2th of April, 1<S5I. his parents being by the bar and in real estate circles as an author- 
Solon and Cordelia A. (Tilden) Thornton, the ity on all real-estate litigation and matters relat- 
formcr a native of New Hampshire and the latter ing to that branch of the profession. A'et his 
of the Old ]5ay State. When he had mastered efforts liave not been confined to this line alune, 
the elementary branches, taught in the public f(ir he has tried w ilh success a tewm liable crim 
schdnls (if I'.ostMU, .Mr. Tln.rntdn entered the inal cases, anidug theiu the Williams Inrgery 
f.-uudus Ijostou Latin .Sclii".!, where in a six 



vears' coin"se he prepared for college, as a student 
entered and later graduated from .America's old- 
est and most honored educatiimal iustilutinu, 
Har\ard College. 

In the month of March, 1873. Air. Thornton oratory is convincing and his zeal and earnest- 
arrived in Chicago and. after studying until the ness never fail tn impress his auditors. Care and 



case. His succes>ful >i)cech to the jury on behalf 
of the defendant in this case. occu])yiug twn tlays 
in delivery, at the end <<\ a trial of great ])ublic 
interest, which lasted six week>;, placed him in 
the proud rank nf enuncnt jury advocates. His 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



679 



precision mark the ])rc'|)aratinu of lii> cases, and 
liis essentially clear-headedness enahles him ti) 
grasp at once the salient points in a case and ti 1 
present tlicm with niiusual cnncisencss and 
directness. 

Previous tu the annexation of the town of 
Lake, uliich at th;U time contained one hundred 
thousand inhahitants, Mr. Tiiornton was elected 
to the office of corporation counsel, and most 
efficiently served in that ca])acity. In 1897 he 
was appointed by Ma\or Harrison corporation 
counsel <jf Chicago. In iSS(; he was elected pres- 
ident of the board of education of Auburn Park, 
which is his place of residence. The pride of the 
American citizen in American institutions cid- 
minates in the iniblic schools, and. considering" 
the zeal and energy cxiiended in developing them 
.and the momentous influence they have upon the 
manhood of the country, this is justifiable. Mr. 
Thornton \\as elected a member of the Cook 
count\- bo.ard of education an<l sulisecpiently wa^ 
elected a member of the bi»ar<l of education of 
Chicago. In januar\-, 18S5, an appointment, 
made by the go\ernor of the state and confirmed 
bv the senate of Illinois, g'ave him a membership 
on the state board of education. He has been a 
[irominent and \er\- useful factor in educational 
circles, and is the originator of a number of re- 
formatorv measures now enforced in the iiublic 



schools. His oljser\-ations. gleaned from in\es- 
tigation of the Cook County X.irmal School, 
were published and attained considerable prom- 
inence. He inaugurated the Collegx' Preparatory 
Scho(il of this city, and likewise the system of 
truant schools. In 1895 '"-' framed the teachers' 
jiensioii liill. and through his innuencc it became 
a law. The educational intere.sts of the citv are 
cert.-iinly largely indebted to Mr. Thornton, and 
his work has been of the greatest benefit. Of 
scholarly attainments and literarv tastes, he has 
given much of his time to study, and few men 
are better informed on matters of general inter- 
est. His political support has ever been strongly 
given the Democratic party, luit in the public 
offices he has filled, so faithfullv has he dis- 
charged bis duties th;it he has received the com- 
mendation of many of the leaders of the opposi- 
tion. 

I\Ir. Thornton was married in 1883 to Miss 
Jessie !•". Benton, of Chicago, and they now have 
three daughters; Mabel J., Pearl l-lstber and 
Hattie May. In fraternit\- and societv circles 
Mr. Thornton has a wide ac(juaintance. Though 
he is niijst widely known in professional and ed- 
ucational circles, his honor in all life's relations 
has won him the respect and regard of his fello-w 
men. and a [josition of high esteem among the 
citizens of Chicago. 



HON. PARIS GIBSON 

GREAT FALLS, MONT. 

Paris Gibson, United States senator of Mon- woolen mill in the same place; in 1879 located at 
tana, Denioci'.it, of Great Falls, was born at Fort Benton, Mont.ana. where be became inter- 
Brownfield. ( )\ford counlv. .Maine, Jul}' 1, 1830; ested in the first fiocks of sheei) dri\en into north- 
was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1851, ern Montana; in iSSj first s;iw the f;dls of the 
and was soon after elected a representati\-e to the Missouri, where he founded the cit_\- of Great 
state legislature of Maine; in 1858 located in Falls, of which he was the first mayor; in 1889 
Minneapolis, Alinnesota. and, in connection with was chosen delegate to the convention at which 
\\'. W. Eastman, built the first flour mill of that was framed the constitution of the state of Mon- 
city; later built and operated the "North Star" tana; in 1890 was elected to represent his comity 



68o PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 

in tlie state senate; inauf^urated tlie municipal W. A. Clark in lyoo, and took liis scat December 

park system of AFontana; was elected to tlie 2, 1901. His term of serxice will expire March 

I'nited States senate March 7, 1901, to fill the 3, 1905. Senator Gibson is an important factor 

\acancy occasioned by the resignation of Hon. in both social and ])olitical life in Montana. 



G. FRANK LYDSTON, M D. 

CHICAGU. ILL. 

Dr. G. Frank LydstiHi, jjrofessor of genito- seven years he filled the lectureshi]) at the Col- 

minary surgery, medical department University lege of Physicians and Surgeons, and in June, 

of Illinois (College of Physicians and Surgeons), 1891, was advanced to the full professorship, 

surgeon to St. Mary of Xazaretb Hospital, was For the past twenty years he has been a contrib- 

born at Jackson\ille, California. March 3. 1S5S, utor to the medical press an<l has issued se\'eral 

his parents being jiioneers of that state, settling text books and a number of niiinographs. He 

there in 1S49. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry has also written a volume of stories and char- 

and good .\e\v luigland stock, his ancestors bav- acter sketches and a sketch book of tra\el which 

ing settled in Maine long before the war of the have attracted a great deal of attention. He is 

Revohuion. professor of criminal anthro])ologv. Kent Col- 

l)r. J^ydston graduated from the Bellevue lege of Law. surgeoii-in-chief of the ^\■est Side 
Hospital Medical College in 1S79, and soon after Free Dispensary, fellow of the Chicago Academy 
was assigned to an interneship in the New York of Medicine and medical examiner of Knights 
Charity Hospital, having passed the highest in a Templar. He .served as division surgeon in the 
com])etitive examination. This jidsition he held Seventh Army Corps during the Spanish-. \mer- 
for eightetn months, when he was appi minted resi- lean war, and was until recentlv profes.sor of sur- 
dent .surgeon to the State Immigrant Hospital, gery in the Chicago Clinical School. He was 
on Ward's Island, New York; in 1881 he re- for eight years major and surgeon of the Second 
signed and moved to Chicago, where he has since Illinois Infantry. In 1883 Dr. Lydston was mar- 
practiced, lectured and written on the special sub- ricd to Miss Josie M. Cottier, of Chicago. They 
jects in which be has become an authoritw For ha\e two daughters. 



RICHARD LOCKEY 

HELENA, MCJNT. 

Richard Fockey was born at ^'orkshire, I'.ng- Ci\il war in the I\lississipi>i \alley, and then, after 

land, jtme 11, 1843, and is a son of John and being honorabl}- discharged e\-entna]|\- locilcd at 

Mary i^ockey. His parents came to .\merica and Helena, IMontana, where he has since resided, 

located at Dubuque. Iowa, where Richard Loekey lie is a Republican and in religious matters a 

received his education. Methodist, has served on the school board, has 

I'rom i8r)j to 1865 he served in the quarter- been alderman, and a member of the state legis- 

master and commissary departments during the lature. He has lieen a Mason since 1867, I. O. 





Cvhrzi^^X^^ 




PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



683 



O. F. since 1869, Good Templar, A. O. U. \V., Miss Eniil\- E. Jeffery and tliey liavc two cliil- 
Eik, Sons of St. George, etc., at varinus times. dren, ]\Iary I. and I'tichard, now l)eing- educated 
Mr. Lockey was married June 7, 1870, to at Stanfnrd University. 



HON. CHARLES DICK, M. C. 

AKRON, OHIO 




Emerson said, "Notliing" succeeds like suc- 
cess," and it wiinld seem General Gliarles Dick 
is a Ii\-ing emlxnliment of the truth n\ that epi- 
grammatic utterance. 

Though comparatively young in years, his ca- 
reer affords a most striking illus- 
tratimi of the po.ssi1>ilities of 
American citizeu'-hip. Few men 
in SO' short a time have gained the 
commanding influence in poHtical 
life wielded hy General Dick, now 
ser\-ing as member of congress 
fr(im the nineteenth Ohio dis- 
trict, and for the si.xth time as 
chairman of the Ohio Repul)li- 
can state executive committee. 

He is the son of Gottlieb ami Afary Dick, and 
was lx)rn in Akron, November 3, 1858. Of hum- 
h\e though sterling parentage, his was the neces- 
sity of making his own way, commencing at the 
\cry lowest round of the ladder. Educated in 
the ])ublic schools, he commenced acli\-e life as a 
clerk in the empkij^ of Chipman & liarnes. hat- 
ters and furnishers. Two years later he accepted 
a position as bookkeeper for the Citizen's Savings 
& Eoan Association, a leading lianking institu- 
tion of his native city. After six years be re- 
signed this position, to^ accqit a similar one with 
the Empire IMower and Rca|)cr Company. With 
tl'.is firm he remained two years, and in 1881 be 
associated himself with L. C. ]\Tiles in the pro- 
duce and grain commission business, the firm 
name later on, through the purcliase of I\[r. 
Miles' interest, changing to Dick & Peterson. 



On June 30, iS8[, General Dick and Miss 
Carrie M., daughter of Dr. J. H. Peterson, oi 
.\kron, were united in marriage, and they have 
a delightful home and charming family in that 
city. 

Always an ardent and enthusiastic I'iepnbli- 
can. General Dick early took an active part in 
political work. In 1886, in recognition of abilitv 
and fealty to his party, he was elected auditor of 
Summit county, and in 1889 was re-elected by a 
largely increased majority. In 1894 he was ad- 
mitted to the bar, and in 1897 to practice l>efore 
the United States supreme court, being at present 
an active member of the law firm of Dick, Dovle 
& Brv-an, of Akron, Ohio. 

Frr>m early life General Dick has been promi- 
nent in both secret society and military affairs. 
He is a Scottish Rite Mason, and Odd Fellow 
and a Knight of Pythias. Starting as a private, 
he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, Eighth 
Regiment, O. N. G. In this capacity he went 
with his regiment, known as the "President's 
Own," to Cuba fo-r acti\e ser\ice during- the 
Spanish-American war. ll;i\ing witnessed the 
surrender of Santiago^, he was shortly after com- 
missioned by General William R. Shafter, in 
command of the American forces, to proceed to 
\\\ashington and |)ersonally present to the presi- 
dent the conditions confronting the American 
army in Cuba. 

At M'ontauk Point he rejoined his regiment, 
ar.d with Mrs. Dick, whn came to assist in the 
work, co-operated personally with others to the 
fullest possible extent, in the task of alleviating 



684 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



the sickness and sufferiiii;- lA the tmops. So 
great became the attachment of the rank and tile. 
l)y reason of liis acti\e interest in tlieir welfare, 
that shortly after the return to Ohio he was 
chosen colonel nf his regiment, and stihseqtiently 
brigadiei- gener;il, and then major general, com- 
manding the ()]iii> \'atii;nal (iuard. which rank 
he now hi>lds. He is a charier member and a 
member of the council of the Snciet_\- of the 
.\rmy of Santiago de Cuba. 

From the hrst he has been recognized as a 
piilitical leader. For \-ears he was a menilier of 
the Summit county Republican executive com- 
mittee, and several times served successfully as 
its chairman. His prowess as a manager attract- 
ing attention, in i8(>2 he was selected chairman 
of the Ohio Republican state executive ccunmit- 
tee. Besides that campaign he has served in this 
capacity for the years 1893, 1894. 1899 and 1900. 
In 1892, when many states considered stead- 
fastly Republican were swept from their mi;nr- 
ings into Democratic or l^upulist seas. Chairman 
Dick, by his untiring L-fTorts .and ihrciugh his ad- 
nnrable organization, held Ohin in the Reinibn- 
can coltimn. The rare ability he manifested that 
year as a campaigii manager made him his own 
successor in 1893. Phenomenal success attend- 
ing his dircctinn of Governor McKinley's second 
cr.mpaign, and bv cnmmon consent, he was again 
selected to lead the Republican hosts to victory. 
And what a \ictiiry! I'ndcr his leadership in 
the campaign of i8(;4, the largest phu-alit_\- ever 
given the ]\ei)u])lican ticket in Ohii> was seciu'ed. 

In the national camiiaign of i89r) General 
Dick iifliciated as secretary at the Cdiicago Re]>ul)- 
h\an head(|uarlers. subsecpiently being made sec- 
rttarv nf llu- Rfpublicm uatinnal cunnnittee. 
strxiug until July. 1900. when he resigned tc 
assume charge of the Ohio campaign. He was 
closely assrx:iate<l with Senator Hanna in the pre- 
liminary canvass for McKinley's first nomination, 
as Avell as the succeeding general campaign, and 



in the years \X()j ami i8(;S he was prominently 
iiientihed both with the wurk of the state cmn- 
mittee and Senator Hanna's canvass for election 
to the United States senate. He was chosen to 
represent his district at the Re])ublican national 
c<in\entii tns (.f 189J and i8</). and in i<;00 was 
one of the four delegates at large from ( )hio to 
the Philadelphia convention, which un.animously 
renominated President McKinley. 

By a singular coincidence, on the da\- that 
(jeneral Dick reached ( )hio, after his return fmm 
Cul)a, Hon. S. A. North\\a\- died, and ( ieneral 
Dick was nominated and elected the following 
Novemlier as Northway's successor for the slu.rt 
and long terms. In 1900 he was re-elected for 
the term 1901-3 by a plurality of thirteen thou- 
s;'.nd se\en Inu'dred and se\enty-eight, one of 
the largest ever gi\en by the district. 

General Dick is one of the most genial of 
men, and a thorough gentlanan. His succe.s.ses 
have been won bv a splendid aljility and consci- 
entious and indefatigable effort, .\lwa_\s a busy 
man, with all his work he has found time to con- 
tinue the impnucment of his mind, few men in 
public life being better read than he. and to ex- 
biljit an unusual interest in the welfare of his 
family, friends and all who come to him for as- 
sistance. 

It would be a mistake to assume that General 
Dick's particiixition in political affairs has pre- 
vented his steady advancement in i|ualilic;ition 
for the larger and greater duties of public ser\-- 
ice. As he prep;ire<l liimself for .admission to 
the bar in the intervals of unusual acti\ ities. and 
yet proved himself well i|ualilied in the ]cg;il pro- 
fession on important ])ublic occasions, such as the 
Couer d'.Mene and West I'oint iinestigalions, so 
he has acquired eN])erience. ability and stren.iL^th 
for his duties as a member of the national house 
of representatives in a way that is proving him 
a worthy representali\e of the Nineteenth Ohio 
district, made famous bv services of Giddings, 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



685 



(iarlield, 'I'aylor and X'l ulliway. He is a force- He is a tlii;rnii_<;iily represcntatixe AincTiL-an 

fill and elii(|uent siieaker, possessing" to a mari<cd citizen, and in the trnest and l>rifadest sense 

degree the orator's most effectix'c attri1)nle, per- stands for all that is hig-hest and hvsl in social, 

sonal magnetism. business and political life. 



JOHN FARSON 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



John Parson, hanker, la\\_\er and senior mem- 
ber of the well-known banking house of Farson, 
Leach & Co., of Chicago and New York, is one 
of the best-known men in financial circles 
ihroug'hont Ihe L'nitcd .States, lie is ;i son of 
the Rev. John T. I'arson ( M. I*-, clergyman) 
and Harriet C. ( I'age ) h'arson. and was born in 
Union City. Indiana. October 8, i<S55. He was 
educated at the public schools of Champaign, Illi- 
nois, and at the Cni\ersity of Illinois, 1874-6; 
studied law in the office of Senator James R. Doo- 
little of Chicago, ex-judge and ex-United States 
senator from \\'isconsin, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1880. 

Mr. Farson li.as been a banker since 1 S8 1 , ,and 
organized the banking house of h'.ai'son. Leach \- 



Co. in 1889. The firm have offices in Chicago 
and New York. Mr. Farson has been president 
of the Calumet Electric Street Railway Com- 
pany, Chicago^ Rockford Street Railway Com- 
l)any, Ivockford. Illinois; Illinois State Sundax' 
School .\ssociation, 1898. I'resident Chicago 
Methodist Social I'niou, 1900; director Union 
Eeague Club, i89C)-(;; trustee American Univer- 
sity t>{ Washington ; and is a member of the best 
clubs and social organizations of Chicag(j. 

Mr. Farson was married Septemlier i, 1881, 
in Chicago, to M.amie .\. .\sliworth. They reside 
;it "I'leasant-Home," ( )ak I'ark, Illinois, theirs 
being one (f the finest residences in that beautiful 
suburb of Chicago. Mr. b'arson has never held 
or desired p< litical office. 



HON. WESLEY L. JONES 



NIJRTH YAKIMA, WASH. 



Hon. \\'esle\- L. Jones, memljer of congress 
at large of Washington, was born at Bethany, 
Illinois, October i>, i8C)3, and is a son of Wesley 
and I'hoelie Jones. 

He was educated at the common schodl and 
graduated from Southern lllint)is College ;it En- 
field. He studieil l;iw in Chicago, teaching night 
school at the same time, and was admitted to the 
bar in March. 1886. He then taught school for 
two years, and moved to North Yakima, ^\'asl^- 
ington, in 1889. lie began the practice of law in 



1890; in 1898 electetl to the hft\-sixth congress 
and re-elected to the fift_\-se\entli. 

He belongs to the Sons of Veterans, Macca- 
bees and Kni,ghts of Pythias, and has been com- 
m:mder of \\'ashington Dix'ision Sons of Veter- 
ans. He h;is tr.aveled extensixely in United 
States, Canad.-i .and Alask.a. Politically he is a 
Republican, ,and in religion a Protestant. 

Mr. Jones was married October i,^ 1886, to 
I\riss Minda Nelson. They have two children, 
;i. son thirteen and a daughter three years of age. 



686 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



HARRY HART 



CHICAGU, ILL. 



Harry Hart, senior meml)cr of the well- 
known Cliicag-o firm of Hart, Schaffner & Marx, 
is one of the best-known and most active bnsiness 
men in Chicago. He is a man of strong person- 
ality and great farce of character. These ciualities 
have helped him win his way to 
the high position he now holds. 
Mr. Hart was born in Eppels- 
Iicim. Rhenish Ilessia, Febrnary 
17. 1S50. His parents were 
lac'ib and Alinnie Hart. In 
1858. when bnt eight years of 
:ge lie came to America with his 
l>arents, settling in Chicago, 
where he received his edncation. 
After the usual struggles of a young man 
working himself up in business life, Mr. Hart is 
now the senior member of the firm of Hart, 
Schaffner & Marx, one of the largest w'holesale 
houses in the west. Their large nine-story build- 
ing is located at Xo. 220 to 230 Van Buren 
street, besides thev also have a large factory on 




the west side, and do a business that extends ail 
o\er the United states. 

Air. Hart is a member and was vice-president 
of the Sinai congregation and a walued member 
of the Sta.nclard and Hamilton Clubs, also a 
director in the Home for Aged Jews and \ice- 
president of the Assftciated Jewish Charities of 
Chicago, 

The extensi\e business interests of Mr. Hart 
(111 not prevent him fmni dexoting nuich time 
and attention to the ui>rk of charity and congre- 
gational affairs, and in the councils of Jewish 
ciimmercial institutions his i)ractic;d suggestions 
an.d business methods are readily heeded and 
willinglv followed, and here his ability, jjurity of 
character and integrity are conceded. 

Mr. Hart was married in Septeml>er, 1873, 
to Miss Addie Cline, daughter of Levi Cline, of 
Chicago, now deceased. Six children ha\e l)een 
born to them, four <:if whom are now living: 
Mrs. Louis H. Kohn, ]^Irs. ^\■illiam Lnwenbach. 
Liilie and Jacob. 



GAINES A. KNAPP 

FOND UU LAC Wli^. 



Gaines A. Knapp, cashier of the I''ond du Lac 
National Hank, \\;is burn at Green r>ay, Wiscon- 
sin, May 31, 1848, and is a son of William .-\. and 
Lucinda A. Knapp. His education was obtained 
at the schools of Oshkosh. His first occuiwtion 
was working on the farm at hnme. In iS(>5 he 
was messenger bii\' fur the h'irsl .Xatinn.al liank 
of Oshkosh for a time, lie niii\ed tn Oshkosh 
permanently in 1867, and was clerk in a hardware 
store for four years. In 1873 he was Iwokkeeper 
in the Fond du Lac Savings Bank, ami in 1878 



was made treasurer nf that hank, and held that po- 
sition until the Inink was closed in 1880. In 18S7 
he was made cashier of the F( nd du Lac Na- 
tional Bank, a jwisition he still 1 ccupic^. Mr. 
Knapp is a thoniugh banker, well versed in finan- 
cial matters, knnwn tfiriiugln nt the stale as an 
al'le banker and safe financier. 

In i88f) he was citv treasurer of h'nnd du Lac 
and in 1887-8S member of the state assembly: 
in 1888 delegate to the Rquiblican national con- 
vention. He is a Knight Templar and high up in 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



687 



the Masonic order and a Knigfht of Pythias. He time he cast his first vote. ]\Ir. Knapp was united 

has traveled extensively in the United Stales. in marriage Sqjteniher 12, iSji, to Miss Flor- 

Po'liticallv he is a Repuljlican and has supported ence L. Gallaway. They have <ine daughter, 

h.is parlv, heing acti\'e in its cnuncils since the Miss Anah Knapp. 



HON. JOSEPH BENSON FORAKER 

CINCINNATI, (JHIO 

The hrillian career of Senator J(.iseph Ben- and became a student of Ci)rnell Uni\ersity, 
son Foraker is a familiar story. It is a career Ithaca, New York. From that institutiim he 



tliat gi\-es insiiiration to' thousands of sturdy, am- 
bitious young men who are ci impelled by circum- 
stances to make their own ])lace in the world, 
and con.stitutes a splendid triljute to the genius 
and success of American instilutiiins which en- 
alile merit rind abilit\- tn. win recognitinn in any 
walk of life. 

Senator Foraker was born near Rainsbor- 



was graduated at the close of his twentv-third 
year, in the summer of 1869. During his col- 
legiate course he tool-: u]i antl prosecuted the 
study of law, so that slmrtly after his graduation 
he was able to begin to practice. He nrnved to 
Cincinnati and was admitted to the (jhio bar on 
Octoljer, 14, 1869. Fmm that date he has prac- 
ticed his profession in Cincinnati, with only such 



ough, Highland county, on July 5, 1846. He interruptions as have lieen incidental to his public 

spent the first years of his life on a farm. He life. 

volunteered as a member of Company A, Eighty- October 4, 1870. Mr. b'oraker was married 

r.inth Regiment, Ohio \'i ilunteers, July 14, 1S62, to Miss Julia Bundy. daughter of the late Hon. 

nine days after his sixteenth anniversary. He H. S. Bundy, of W'ellston, Ohio. Of this union 

served with his regiment until after the fall of have been born five children — two sons and three 

Atlanta. He was made sergeant August 26, daughters. 

1862, and first lieutenant March 14, i8()4. Aft- The jjuljlic life of Mr. I^iraker began in 

erward he was detailed for service in the signal April, 1879, when he was elected judge of the 
Corps and was assigned to duty as a signal offi- 
cer <m the staff of Major General Slocum, who 

v,as in cmnmand of the left wing of Sliernian's count of temporary ill health, he resigned. On 

army. After the march through Georgia and his recm'ery he resumed the practice of his ])ro- 

tliC Carolinas, Lieutenant b^iraker was promoted fession in Cincinnati. In i88j5 he received by 

to the rank of brevet captain of United States acclamation the nonnination <>f the Repuljlican 



superior coiu't of Cincinnati. This ])osition he 
occupied until the ist of May, i88j, wlien, on ac- 



X'olunteers (March 19, 1865, "for efficient serv- 
ices during the campaigns in North Carolina and 
Georgia"), and was assigned to duly as aide- 
dc-cani]) on the staff of General Slovum. This 
position he helil until he was mustered out ol the 
service at the close of the war. 

After the war Captain Foraker resumeil the 



])artv for governor of Ohio, but was defeated by 
his Democratic opponent. Judge Hoadley. In 
1884 Mr. Foraker was by acclamation chosen a 
delcgate-al-Large to the national Republican 
c<ni\ention. and was made chairman of the Ohio 
delegation. In that convention he put in nomina- 
tion for the presidency Senator John Sherman. 



studies which he had cast aside in order to enlist In the following year he was a second time nom- 



688 



PROMINENT MEN OF THE GREAT WEST 



inatecl for govenior against Judge lli>a<lley, and 
was successful. In 18S7 1k' was a secon<l time 
elected governor of Oliin. in the follnwing year 
he was again chosen hy acclamatiim a delegate- 
at-large to the Republican national convention 
and was again chairman of the delegation from 
Ohio. In this ci^mention he again placed Sen- 
ator John Sherman in nnminatinn fur the presi- 
dency'. In i8(S9 Mr. Furaker was for the fonrtli 
time nominated for governor, but was defeated 
by James E. Campbell. In 1892 he received 
thirty-eight votes fnr United States senator, but 
was defeated by Senator Sherman. In this year 
he was for the third time chosen a delegate-at- 
large to the Republican national convention and 
served in that Ixnly as chainnan of the committee 
on resolutions. 

In the state conventinn at Zanesville, held nn 
May, 28, 1895, a re.solution was unanimously 
passed endorsing Mr. Foraker as the Republi- 
can candidate for United States senator. At the 
ensuing .\nvember election a Republican legisla- 
ture was chiisen by a majdrity nf over 100,000 
votes. The sentiment in fa\(!r «if Mr. Foraker 
had liecome overwhelming, and when in Janu- 
ary, 1896, the legislature assembled, all slmw of 
opix>sition had melted away. Witlmut the for- 
mality of a caucus and by the unanimuus vote 
of his party he was elected to the senate of the 
United States for the term of six years, coiu- 
mencing with March 4. 1897. Senator Foraker 
took a ])roniincnt part in the debates jjreceding 
the Sp;mish-.\merican war. He earnestly advo- 
cated the cause of Cuba, ami w as the author of 
the resoutlions under which the United States 



government interxened in the affairs of that isl- 
and. He alsn rendered imixirtant sur\ ice as 
chairman (f the C"nimittee im I'acitic islands and 
Porto Ricn, in framing and ad\-ocating the act 
providing for tlie civil governmeni of Porto Rico. 

The state Republican convention of 1896 
was held in (.1 Inmbus mi March 10 and 11. 
Senator P'oraker presided iixer the ci nnentic.n a.^ 
its chainnan and was by acclamation chosen for 
the fourth time to represent the state of Ohio as 
one of its delegates-at-large to the Republican 
national con\enti' 11 held at St. Louis on the I'lth 
of the f()llowing June. In this con\ention he 
for the .second time acted as chairman of the 
committee on resolutions, and also made the 
speech nominating William McKinley for the 
presidency. 

In 1900 he was again luianimously chosen by 
the Ohio Rqniblicans to represent theiu as a 
delegate-at-large in the national Republican con- 
vention at Philadelphia, and made the speech re- 
nominating President .McKinley. 

Such is the brief outline of the career of one 
of the great men of Oliio. Senator l-'oraker is 
in his prime. He is regariled with admu'ation 
not onlv bv the people of the state which he hon- 
ored and which Ik iiors him. but also b_v the ])eo- 
ple of the whole nation. He is primarily a 
man of the people. His sympathies are 
broad and patriotic. He is strongly tm the side 
of the peo])le and is devoted to American inter- 
ests in the highest and best sense of that teriu. 
His instincts as an eld soldier of the Union are 
blended with the patriotism of the civilian, com- 
posing a character as admirable as it is humane. 




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